Purpose of publication

The intent of this paper is to allow Members and Senators to identify
Victoria Cross (VC) recipients who served with Australian military units and
are connected to particular electorates, as defined by current electoral
boundaries. A Victoria Cross recipient is defined as ‘connected’ with a
specific federal House of Representatives electorate if the recipient:

was born in the electorate

resided in the electorate prior to, at or following
enlistment

died in the electorate or

is buried or was cremated in the electorate.

Abbreviations

AAMC

Australian
Army Medical Corps

AATTV

Australian
Army Training Team Vietnam

AIF

Australian
Imperial Force

AMF

Australian
Military Forces

ARVN

Army
of the Republic of Vietnam

Bn

Battalion

CB

Companion
of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath

CO

Commanding
Officer

Col.

Colonel

Comd.

Command

Coy.

Company

Cpl

Corporal

Cpt.

Captain

DGMS

Director
General Medical Services

DSO

Distinguished
Service Order

Inf.

Infantry

KCB

Knight
Commander of the Order of the Bath

KCMG

Knight
Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

LHR

Light
Horse Regiment

Lieut.

Lieutenant

LMG

Light
machine gun

Lt.

Lieutenant

MG

Machine
gun

MM

Military
Medal

NAA

National
Archives of Australia

NCO

Non-Commissioned
Officer

OBE

Order
of the British Empire

Pl.

Platoon

Posn.

Position

Pte

Private

QOCG

Queen’s
Own Corps of Guides

RAAF

Royal
Australian Air Force

RAF

Royal
Air Force

RAR

Royal
Australian Regiment

Sjt.

Sergeant

Sgt

Sergeant

T/Corporal

Temporary
Corporal

TSMG

Thompson
sub-machine gun

VMR

Victoria
Mounted Rifles

The Victoria Cross

...
is the pre-eminent award for acts of bravery in wartime and Australia’s highest
military honour.

It is awarded to persons who, in the presence of the enemy, display the
most conspicuous gallantry; a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or
self-sacrifice; or extreme devotion to duty.[1]

History

The (Imperial) Victoria Cross was created in the United Kingdom during 1856,
and retrospectively covered the Crimean War beginning in 1854.[2]
It was first awarded to 62 sailors and soldiers following the Indian Mutiny in
1857.

The Victoria Cross for Australia was inaugurated in 1991, and is the
highest Australian award in the Australian system of Honours and Awards. It was
first awarded in January 2009 to Trooper Mark Gregor Donaldson, forty years
after the award to the last Australian recipient of the (Imperial) Victoria
Cross, Warrant Officer Keith Payne in 1969.[3]

In total, 100 VC recipients connected to an Australian federal
electorate have served with Australian military units. The conflicts for which
these VCs were awarded are:

Boer War (1899–1902):

6

First World War (1914–18):

64

North Russia (1919):

2

Second World War (1939–45):

20

Vietnam (1962–72):

4

Afghanistan
(2001–present):

4

An additional 19 VC
recipients were either born or died in Australia but did not serve with
Australian military units. These VC recipients are recorded in Appendix 2.

Description

The VC is made by Messrs.
Hancock, jewellers of London, from metal taken from Russian guns captured at
Sevastopol.[4] It is in the form of a Maltese Cross in bronze adorned by a crown surmounted by
a crowned lion, the emblem of the British royal family, in the centre, with a
scroll bearing the inscription, ‘For Valour’. On the reverse is inscribed the
date of the action. The name and regiment of the holder are inscribed on the
back of the suspension bar. The ribbon is red for all Services, although until
July 1918, the Royal Navy used the blue ribbon.[5] The original warrant for the Victoria Cross, issued by Queen Victoria under her
Royal Sign Manual, is available in the London Gazette.[6]

John Patrick Hamilton

Born: 24
January 1896, Orange, New South Wales [electorate of Calare].[7]

Life before the war:

Son of William Hamilton, butcher,
and his wife Catherine, née Fox. Nothing is known of his schooling but he
described himself as a butcher when he enlisted ... he had had prior service in
the militia.[8]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Penshurst, New South Wales [electorate of
Banks].[9]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 August 1915—Gallipoli, Turkey.[11]

For most conspicuous bravery on 9th
August, 1915, in the Gallipoli Peninsula. During a heavy bomb attack by the
enemy on the newly captured position at Lone Pine, Private Hamilton, with utter
disregard to personal safety, exposed himself under heavy fire on the parados,
in order to secure a better fire position against the enemy’s bomb throwers.
His coolness and daring example had an immediate effect. The defence was
encouraged, and the enemy driven off with heavy loss.[12]

On 5 July 1918 Hamilton was posted
to No.5 Officer Cadet Battalion at Cambridge, England; he was commissioned
second lieutenant in January 1919 and promoted lieutenant next April. He
rejoined a much-depleted 3rd Battalion in France late that month and returned
to Australia in August. His AIF appointment ended on 12 September. After
demobilization he lived at Tempe, Sydney, and was a wharf labourer for over
thirty years; he also worked as a shipping clerk, storeman and packer. He was an
active member of the Waterside Workers’ Federation and was Labor nominee for
the position of Sydney branch secretary in 1952. During World War II he served
as a lieutenant with the 16th Garrison Battalion and several training
battalions. In 1942 he went to New Guinea with the 3rd Pioneer Battalion, then
served with Australian Labour Employment Companies until 1944 when he
transferred to the Australian Army Labour Service. He was promoted captain in
the Australian Military Forces in October 1944. He returned to Sydney in April
1946.[14]

Died: 27
February 1961, Concord, New South Wales [electorate of Reid].[15]

Place of
burial or cremation: Woronora Cemetery, Sutherland, New South Wales [electorate
of Hughes].[16]

George Cartwright

Son of William Edward Cartwright,
coach trimmer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Stracey. Migrating alone to
Australia in 1912, George took a job as a labourer on a sheep station in the
Elsmore district, near Inverell, New South Wales.[18]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Elsmore via Inverell, New South Wales
[electorate of New England].[19]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 31 August 1918—near Peronne, France.[21]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty on the morning of the 31st August, 1918, during the attack on
Road Wood, south west of Bouchavenes, near Peronne. When two companies were
held up by machine gun fire, from the south western edge of the wood, without
hesitation, Private Cartwright moved against the gun in a most deliberate
manner under intense fire. He shot three of the team, and, having bombed the
post, captured the gun and nine enemy. This gallant deed had a most inspiring
effect on the whole line, which immediately rushed forward. Throughout the
operation Private Cartwright displayed wonderful dash, grim determination, and
courage of the highest order.[22]

Cartwright lived in Sydney and
worked as a motor mechanic. On 25 June 1921 he married Elsie Broker at St
Stephen’s Anglican Church, Chatswood; they were to have two children before
being divorced. He served in the Militia’s 4th-3rd Battalion and was
commissioned on 25 February 1932. Mobilized for full-time service on 5 March
1940, he was promoted captain (1942) and performed training and amenities
duties in Australia. Cartwright was placed on the Retired List on 11 May 1946.
He found employment as an assistant-cashier and married Evelyn Mary Short on 4
September 1948 in the Congregational Church, Pitt Street, Sydney.

In 1956 Cartwright visited London
for the VC centenary celebrations; he returned there for biennial reunions of
the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. He was a quiet, unassuming
man, 5 ft 7 ins (170 cm) tall, with black hair and a dark complexion. Survived
by his wife, and by the son of his first marriage, he died on 2 February 1978
at Gordon and was cremated. His widow presented his VC and other medals to the
Imperial War Museum, London.[24]

Died: 2
February 1978, Gordon, New South Wales [electorate of Bradfield].[25]

Place of burial or cremation:
Cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium, North Ryde [electorate of Bennelong].[26]Neville Reginald Howse (first
Australian VC recipient)

Born on 26 October 1863 at
Stogursey, Somerset, England, son of Alfred Howse, surgeon, and his wife Lucy
Elizabeth, née Conroy. He was educated at Fullard’s House School, Taunton, and
studied medicine at London Hospital ... Howse was a demonstrator in anatomy at
the University of Durham when declining health caused him to migrate to New
South Wales. Registered to practise on 11 December 1889 he set up at Newcastle
but soon moved to Taree. In 1895 he visited England for postgraduate work in
surgery, became FRCS in 1897, then bought a practice at Orange. On 17 January
1900 he was commissioned lieutenant in the New South Wales Medical Corps and
sailed with the 2nd Contingent for South Africa.[28]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Orange, New South Wales [electorate of
Calare].[29]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 24 July 1900—Vredefort, South Africa.[31]

During the action at Vredefort on
the 24th July, 1900, Captain House went out under a heavy cross fire and picked
up a wounded man, and carried him to a place of shelter.[32]

Unit at time
of action: New South Wales Army Medical Corps, Australian Forces.[33]

Life after
the war:

Howse became widely known in
Orange for his skill as a surgeon and was twice mayor. On 31 January 1905 he
married Evelyn Gertrude Northcote Pilcher at Bathurst. He remained a major in
the AAMC Reserve and in August 1914 was appointed principal medical officer to
the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force to German New Guinea,
with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On his own initiative drugs and medical
equipment (including a unique dental arrangement) suitable for a tropical
campaign were obtained and the troops were protected against typhoid and
smallpox. The brief action in New Britain was completed without a single case
of serious illness up to 15 October as a result of his thoroughness. The
ambitious Howse returned alone just in time to join the Australian Imperial
Force and sail with the first convoy as staff officer to Surgeon General (Sir)
WCD Williams, director of medical services. During the voyage he won the
confidence of the commander of the AIF Major General (Sir) WT Bridges and the
friendship of Colonel (Sir) Brudenell White.

In December Howse was appointed
assistant director of medical services, 1st Australian Division, with the rank
of colonel. He was gravely perturbed by the inadequacy and confusion of the
Imperial forces’ medical plan for the Gallipoli landing and obtained
improvements in the arrangements for the evacuation of Australian wounded. When
the perilous situation of the 1st Division at the landing made his plans impossible
Howse took personal charge of the evacuation of the wounded men crowding the
beach under increasing shell-fire, ‘giving and disregarding orders in a manner
quite shocking but strangely productive of results. Shells and bullets he
completely disregarded’, wrote White. ‘To the wounded he was gentleness
itself’. By 3 am on 26 April the beach was clear but Howse continued to
superintend evacuation to the ships for two more days. To Howse the medical
service was no mere humane amenity for soldiers but a fundamental of fighting
efficiency. So he strove to improve sanitation and food, to expedite the return
of the wounded to units and, after Gallipoli, to combat venereal disease and to
resist every attempt to lower the physical standard of the AIF On Gallipoli he
established the Anzac Medical Society which met regularly to disseminate
knowledge among his officers. In July 1915 he was appointed CB and in September
was given command of the medical services, Australian and New Zealand Army
Corps, as deputy director; from November he was director of medical services of
the AIF In this appointment, which he had been strongly urging, Howse could
ensure the independence of the AAMC from the British medical authorities and
give it the cohesion and leadership which it had lacked.

When the infantry divisions went
to France in 1916 Howse set up his headquarters with AIF administrative
headquarters in London. He retained control of the AAMC in Egypt and Palestine,
made frequent visits to the AIF in France and reported each month to the
director general of medical services in Melbourne. If he had much to learn
about the vast, complex organism of the army at war, he revealed a capacity to
learn and grow with the magnitude of his task. Mistakes were made but Howse
never lost the confidence of the commander of the AIF, Lieutenant-General Sir
William Birdwood, nor of Brudenell White. Among his achievements were
recognition by the army of the need for direct access by the director of
medical services to the general officer commanding the AIF, and his acceptance
by the War Office as chief medical officer of the AIF. He established clear
policies for the AAMC in line with those of the Royal Army Medical Corps and
preserved the independence of his corps. When Major General (Sir) John Monash
ordered AAMC officers on his headquarters to wear the 3rd Division colour patch
instead of their own, Howse forced Monash to withdraw the order; he won the
same battle against Major General (Sir) Talbot Hobbs. In January 1917 he was
promoted major general and appointed KCB. Howse gave evidence before the
Dardanelles Commission in 1917. The arrangements for the wounded at the landing
he characterized as ‘so inadequate that they amounted to criminal negligence’
on the part of the Imperial authorities.

In the field, Howse had introduced
surgical teams and had supported the work of Major AW Holmes à Court in
developing resuscitation teams with each division. His reorganization of the
field ambulances in two sections, rejected by the War Office in 1916, was readopted
in the AIF in September 1918. In October Howse went briefly to Australia to
advise the minister of defence on AIF affairs and on crippled returned
soldiers. He returned to London in February 1919 to assist on the medical side
of repatriation. He was mentioned in dispatches, and was appointed KCMG and
Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1919. Howse returned home in
January 1920 but his resumption of private practice was short lived. He had
been appointed chairman of a committee on the reorganization of the Army
Medical Service which began work in 1921 but in July 1921 he was made DGMS as a
regular major general stationed in Melbourne. From the day of his return he had
spoken out in public on the achievement of the AAMC in maintaining the health
of the AIF and had insisted that the same must be done for all Australians in
peacetime. As a regular officer could not campaign in public he resigned in
November 1922 and was elected to the House of Representatives for the seat of
Calare, which included Orange, as a member of the National Party.

... He was a member of the
Australian delegation to the fourth assembly of the League of Nations in 1923
and commissioned by the government to inquire into the medical examination of
migrants to Australia and into the Spahlinger treatment of tuberculosis. From
January 1925 to April 1927 Howse was minister for defence and health and
minister in charge of repatriation. He accompanied the Prime Minister, SM
(Viscount) Bruce to the Imperial Conference in 1926 but was taken ill and
returned to Australia. He relinquished defence and health but remained in the
cabinet as assistant minister without portfolio. Nevertheless he continued to
administer repatriation and even acted as secretary to the cabinet. In February
1928 he again became minister for health and repatriation and also for home and
territories. He was campaign manager for the 1929 election in which he lost his
seat. In his brief parliamentary career he was recognized as champion of the
returned servicemen and as a pioneer in public health. He spoke on the need for
the Commonwealth to improve public health, on the treatment of cancer and
venereal disease, maternity allowances and the welfare of returned servicemen.
With the purchase of £100,000 worth of radium in 1928 Howse set up one of the
world’s first radium banks. The first conference of cancer organizations in
Australia was inspired by him and he was responsible for the transfer of the
Institute of Anatomy to Canberra. He helped to found the Federal Health Council
in 1925 and the College of Surgeons of Australasia in 1928.

Howse went to England for medical
treatment in 1930. He died of cancer on 19 September 1930 and was buried in
Kensal Green cemetery, London, survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.
Neville Howse was an Englishman who expressed the nascent Australian
nationalism vigorously and directly. He was a pragmatist who nevertheless saw
far ahead, a surgeon who had a flair for soldiering, an organizer who had deep
insight into the essential relationship between the medical service and the
force it served and who had the courage and persistence to establish policies
not always understood by combatant officers. His confidence, good humour and
diplomacy were matched by his shrewd appreciation of character. If his ambition
carried him far, it was motivated by his recognition of human need in war and
peace and sustained by confidence in his own capacity to help. His successes,
in the words of another great DGMS, Colonel RM Downes, ‘made him one of the
outstanding Australians of the Great War ... one of the most remarkable and
self-sacrificing medical administrators any military force has ever known’.[34]

Place of
burial or cremation: Kensal Green Cemetery, London, United Kingdom.[36]

Blair Anderson Wark

Born: 27
July 1894, Bathurst, New South Wales [electorate of Calare].[37]

Life before
the war:

Fourth child of Alexander Wark, a
gas engineer from Scotland, and his native-born wife Blanche Adelaide Maria, née
Forde. Educated at Fairleigh Grammar, Bathurst, St Leonards Superior Public
School (North Sydney High) and Sydney Technical College, Blair worked as a
quantity surveyor while pursuing his military interests. A senior cadet in
1911–12, he enlisted in the 18th (North Sydney) Infantry, Australian Military
Forces, and was provisionally commissioned in 1913.[38]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: McMahon’s Point, New South Wales [electorate
of North Sydney].

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 29 September–1 October 1918—Hindenburg Line,
France.[40]

For most conspicuous bravery,
initiative, and control during the period 29th Sept. to 1st Oct., 1918, in the
operations against the Hindenburg Line at Bellicourt and the advance through
Nauroy, Etricourt, Magny La Fosse and Joncourt. On 29th Sept., after personal
reconnaissance, under heavy fire, [Major Wark] led his command forward at a
critical period, and restored the situation. Moving fearlessly at the head of,
and at times far in advance of, his troops, he cheered his men on through
Nauroy, thence towards Etricourt. Still leading his assaulting companies, he
observed a battery of 77mm guns firing on his rear companies, and causing heavy
casualties. Collecting a few of his men, he rushed the battery, capturing four
guns and then of the crew [sic]. Then moving rapidly forward, with only two
NCOs he surprised and captured fifty Germans near Magny La Fosse. On 1st Oct.,
1918, he again showed fearless leading and gallantry in attack, and without
hesitation, and regardless of personal risk, dashed forward and silenced
machine guns which were causing heavy casualties. Throughout he displayed the
greatest courage, skilful leading, and devotion to duty, and his work was
invaluable.[41]

On 31 May 1919 at the parish
church, Worthing, Sussex, Wark married Phyllis Marquiss Munro and returned to
Australia where his AIF appointment was terminated in September. He became a
principal of Thompson & Wark, quantity surveyors, a director of several
companies, a councillor of the National Roads and Motorists’ Association, a
committee-member of the Hawkesbury Race Club and a life governor of the
Benevolent Society of New South Wales. Divorced in 1922, Wark married Catherine
Mary Davis on 10 December 1927 at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Sydney. In
April 1940 he was appointed to the 1st Battalion, AMF, and assumed command on
26 July with the rank of temporary lieutenant-colonel. While bivouacked at
Puckapunyal, Victoria, he died suddenly of coronary heart disease on 13 June
1941. Wark was cremated after a military funeral at which it was said that he
‘liked the wind in his face and lived the life of three men’. His wife, their
son and two daughters survived him.[43]

Place of burial or cremation:
Cremated at Eastern Suburbs Crematorium, Matraville, New South Wales
[electorate of Kingsford Smith].[45]

John Bernard (Jack) Mackey

Born: 16 May
1922, Leichhardt, New South Wales [electorate of Grayndler].[46]

Life before
the war:

Only son and eldest of four
children of native-born parents Stanislaus Mackey, baker, and his wife Bridget
Catherine, née Smyth. After attending St Columba’s School, Leichhardt, and
Christian Brothers’ High School, Lewisham, Jack moved with his family to
Portland in 1936. Aged 14, he finished his formal education at St Joseph’s
Convent School that year. Because jobs were scarce, young Mackey was
apprenticed in his father’s bakery. Of average height, stockily built and
weighing about 13 stone (83 kg), he had blue eyes, reddish hair, and a humorous
and exuberant nature. He played Rugby League football for the local junior team
(and later for his battalion) and proved an excellent swimmer, but he disliked
working in the bakery and living in the country. His relationship with his
father became strained, particularly after his mother died in 1939. Defying his
father, Jack overstated his age and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force
on 4 June 1940. Stanislaus reluctantly accepted the situation.[47]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Portland, New South Wales [electorate of
Calare].[48]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 12 May 1945, Tarakan Island, Indonesia.[50]

Corporal Mackey was in charge of a
section of the 2/3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion in the attack on the feature
known as Helen, East of Tarakan town. Led by Corporal Mackey the section moved
along a narrow spur with scarcely width for more than one man when it came
under fire from three well-sited positions near the top of a very steep,
razor-backed ridge. The ground fell away almost sheer on each side of the track
making it almost impossible to move to a flank so Corporal Mackey led his men
forward. He charged the first Light Machine-Gun position but slipped and after
wrestling with one enemy, bayoneted him, and charged straight on to the Heavy
Machine-Gun which was firing from a bunker position six yards to his right. He
rushed this post and killed the crew with grenades. He then jumped back and
changing his rifle for a sub-machine-gun he attacked further up the steep slope
another Light Machine-Gun position which was firing on his platoon. Whilst
charging, he fired his gun and reached within a few feet of the enemy position
when he was killed by Light Machine-Gun fire but not before he had killed two
more enemy. By his exceptional bravery and complete disregard for his own life,
Corporal Mackey was largely responsible for the killing of seven Japanese and
the elimination of two machine-gun posts, which enabled his platoon to gain its
objective, from which the Company continued to engage the enemy. His fearless
action and outstanding courage were an inspiration to the whole battalion.[51]

Place of
burial or cremation: Labuan War Cemetery, Labuan, Malaysia.[54]

Rawdon Hume Middleton

Born: 22
July 1916, Waverley, New South Wales [electorate of Wentworth].[55]

Life before
the war:

Son of native-born parents Francis
Rawdon Hamilton Middleton, station-manager, and his wife Faith Lillian, née
Millar. Rawdon was educated at Dubbo High School and worked as a jackeroo on
Leewong, a station at Yarrabandi, near Parkes, managed by his father. Nicknamed
‘Ron’, he was a keen cricketer and footballer, despite being slightly built. He
was a good-looking young man, very quiet and a little moody, with a strong
‘streak of honest determination’.[56]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Yarrabandai, New South Wales [electorate of Riverina].

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 28–29 November 1942—Turin, Italy.[58]

Flight Sergeant Middleton was
captain and first pilot of a Stirling aircraft detailed to attack the Fiat
Works at Turin [28–9] November, 1942. Great difficulty was experienced in
climbing to 12,000 feet to cross the Alps, which led to excessive consumption
of fuel. So dark was the night that the mountain peaks were almost invisible.
During the crossing Flight Sergeant Middleton had to decide whether to proceed
or turn back, there being barely sufficient fuel for the return journey. Flares
were sighted ahead and he continued the mission and even dived to 2,000 feet to
identify the target, despite the difficulty of regaining height. Three flights were
made over Turin at this low altitude before the target was identified. The
aircraft was then subjected to fire from light anti-aircraft guns. A large hole
appeared in the port main plane which made it difficult to maintain lateral
control. A shell then burst in the cockpit, shattering the windscreen and
wounding both pilots. A piece of shell splinter tore into the side of Flight
Sergeant Middleton’s face, destroying his right eye and exposing the bone over
the eye. He was probably wounded also in the body or legs. The second pilot
received wounds in the head and both legs which bled profusely. The wireless
operator was also wounded in the leg. Flight Sergeant Middleton became
unconscious and the aircraft dived to 800 feet before control was regained by the
second pilot, who took the aircraft up to 1500 feet and released the bombs.
There was still lightflak, some very intense, and the aircraft was hit many
times. The three gunners replied continuously until the rear turret was put out
of action. Flight Sergeant Middleton had now recovered consciousness and, when
clear of the target, ordered the second pilot back to receive first aid. Before
this was completed the latter insisted on returning to the cockpit, as the
captain could see very little and could only speak with loss of blood and great
pain.

Course was set for base and the
crew now faced an Alpine crossing and a homeward flight in a damaged aircraft,
with insufficient fuel. The possibilities of abandoning the aircraft or landing
in Northern France were discussed but Flight Sergeant Middleton expressed the
intention of trying to make the English coast, so that his crew could leave the
aircraft by parachute. Owing to his wounds and diminishing strength, he knew
that, by then, he would have little or no chance of saving himself. After four
hours, the French coast was reached and here the aircraft, flying at 6,000
feet, was once more engaged and hit by intense light anti-aircraft fire. Flight
Sergeant Middleton was still at the controls and mustered sufficient strength
to take evasive action. After crossing the Channel there was only sufficient
fuel for 5 minutes flying. Flight Sergeant Middleton ordered the crew to
abandon the aircraft while he flew parallel with the coast for a few miles,
after which he intended to head out to sea. Five of the crew left the aircraft
safely, while two remained to assist Flight Sergeant Middleton. The aircraft
crashed in the sea and the bodies of the front gunner and flight engineer were
recovered the following day. Their gallant captain was apparently unable to
leave the aircraft and his body has not been traced. Flight Sergeant Middleton
was determined to attack the target regardless of the consequences and not to
allow his crew to fall into enemy hands. While all the crew displayed heroism
of a high order, the urge to do so came from Flight Sergeant Middleton, whose
fortitude and strength of will made possible the completion of the mission. His
devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds is unsurpassed in the annals
of the Royal Air Force.[59]

Place of burial or cremation: St
John’s Churchyard, Mildenhall, United Kingdom.[62]

Kevin Arthur
Wheatley

Born: 13
March 1937, Surry Hills, New South Wales [electorate of Sydney].[63]

Life before
the war:

Third child of Raymond George
Wheatley, labourer, and his wife Ivy Sarah Ann, née Newman, both born in
Sydney. Educated at Maroubra Junction Junior Technical School, Kevin worked as
a milk carter, food sterilizer, machine operator and brick burner. At the
registrar-general’s office, Sydney, on 20 July 1954 he married a 14-year-old
milk-bar assistant Edna Aileen Davis, who used her stepfather’s surname,
Gimson. On 12 June 1956 Wheatley enlisted in the Australian Regular Army.
Following recruit training he joined the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian
Regiment, in September 1956 and transferred to the 3rd Battalion in March 1957.
He served in the Malayan Emergency from September that year to July 1959,
before transferring in August to the 2nd Battalion and in June 1961 to the 1st
Battalion. In January 1964 he was promoted sergeant and in August, temporary
warrant officer, class two. Short and stocky, he was a highly respected and
well-liked non-commissioned officer with a reputation as a rough, wild man who
was a good soldier. He was known as ‘Dasher’ for his Rugby Union football
prowess. Arriving in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in March 1965, Wheatley
joined the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam.[64]

Place of
residence following enlistment: Campbelltown, New South Wales [electorate of
Macarthur].[65]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 13 November 1965—Quang Ngai, Vietnam.[67]

On 13th November 1965 at
approximately 1300 hours, a Vietnamese Civil Irregular Defence Group company
commenced a search and destroy operation in the Tra Bong valley, 15 kilometres
East of Tra Bong Special Forces Camp in Quang Ngai Province. Accompanying the
force were Captain F Fazekas, senior Australian Advisor, with the centre
platoon, and Warrant Officers KA Wheatley and RJ Swanton with the right hand
platoon. At about 1340 hours, Warrant Officer Wheatley reported contact with
Viet Cong elements. The Viet Cong resistance increased in strength until
finally Warrant Officer Wheatley asked for assistance. Captain Fazekas
immediately organised the centre platoon to help and personally led and fought
it towards the action area. While moving towards this area he received another
radio message from Warrant Officer Wheatley to say that Warrant Officer Swanton
had been hit in the chest, and requested an air strike and an aircraft, for the
evacuation of casualties.

At about this time the right
platoon broke in the face of heavy Viet Cong fire and began to scatter.
Although told by the Civil Irregular Defence Group medical assistant that
Warrant Officer Swanton was dying, Warrant Officer Wheatley refused to abandon
him. He discarded his radio to enable him to half drag, half carry Warrant
Officer Swanton, under heavy machine gun and automatic rifle fire, out of the
open rice paddies into the comparative safety of a wooded area, some 200 metres
away. He was assisted by a Civil Irregular Defence Group member, Private Dinh
Do who, when the Viet Cong were only some ten metres away, urged him to leave
his dying comrade. Again he refused, and was seen to pull the pins from two
grenades and calmly awaited the Viet Cong, holding one grenade in each hand.
Shortly afterwards, two grenade explosions were heard, followed by several
bursts of fire. The two bodies were found at first light next morning after the
fighting had ceased, with Warrant Officer Wheatley lying beside Warrant Officer
Swanton. Both had died of gunshot wounds. Warrant Officer Wheatley displayed
magnificent courage in the face of an overwhelming Viet Cong force which was
later estimated at more than a company. He had the clear choice of abandoning a
wounded comrade and saving himself by escaping through the dense timber or of
staying with Warrant Officer Swanton and thereby facing certain death. He
deliberately chose the latter course. His acts of heroism, determination and
unflinching loyalty in the face of the enemy will always stand as examples of
the true meaning of valour.[68]

Place of
burial or cremation: Pine Grove Memorial Park, Minchinbury, New South Wales
[electorate of McMahon].[71]

William Mathew Currey

Born: 19
September 1895, Wallsend, New South Wales [electorate of Newcastle].[72]

Life before
the war:

Son of William Robert Currey,
labourer and later miner, and his wife Mary Ellen, née Lang. Educated at Dudley
and Plattsburg Public schools, he moved to Leichhardt, Sydney, and found
employment as a wireworker. After the outbreak of World War I he twice
attempted to enlist without his parents’ consent, giving a false age, but was
discovered and discharged.[73]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Leichhardt, New South Wales [electorate of
Grayndler].[74]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1 September 1918—Peronne, France.[76]

For most conspicuous bravery and
daring in the attack on Peronne on the morning of 1st September, 1918. When the
battalion was suffering heavy casualties from a 77mm field gun at very close
range, Private Currey, without hesitation, rushed forward under intense machine
gun fire and succeeded in capturing the gun single handed after killing the
entire crew. Later, when the advance of the left flank was checked by an enemy
strong point, Private Currey crept around the flank and engaged the post with a
Lewis gun. Finally, he rushed the post single handed, causing many casualties.
It was entirely owing to his gallant conduct that the situation was relieved
and the advance enabled to continue. Subsequently, he volunteered to carry
orders for the withdrawal of an isolated company, and this he succeeded in
doing despite shell and rifle fire, returning later with valuable information. Throughout
the operations his striking example of coolness, determination, and utter
disregard of danger had a most inspiring effect on his comrades, and his gallant
work contributed largely to the success of the operations.[77]

Despite his gas wound, Currey saw
out the war with the 53rd Battalion, arriving back in Australia in March 1919.
In September he joined the New South Wales railways as a storeman and next
year, on 10 April, married Emma Davies at St Saviour’s Anglican Church,
Punchbowl. While employed with the railways he became active in the Australian
Labor Party and on 16 May 1941 he resigned his post to stand as Labor candidate
for Kogarah in the Legislative Assembly. He won the seat, thereby becoming the
first VC winner to enter the New South Wales parliament. He was twice
re-elected—in 1944 and 1947—and made the interests of ex-servicemen his
particular concern. In 1930–32 he had served with the 45th Battalion in the
citizen forces, rising to warrant officer rank, and in 1940–41 with the Australian
Instructional Corps. Currey collapsed suddenly in Parliament House on 27 April
1948 and, survived by his wife and two daughters, died three days later of
coronary-vascular disease.[79]

Died: 30
April 1948, Bexley, New South Wales [electorate of Barton].[80]

Place
of burial or cremation: Cremated at Woronora Crematorium, Sydney [electorate of
Hughes].[81]

Clarence Smith Jeffries

Born: 26
October 1894, Wallsend, New South Wales [electorate or Newcastle].[82]

Life before
the war:

Only child of Joshua Jeffries,
colliery manager, and his wife Barbara, née Steel, both born at Wallsend. After
attending Dudley Primary School, where he excelled at cricket, and the
Newcastle Collegiate and High schools, he was apprenticed to his father as a
mining engineer. A young man of high standards and ideals, he strove to excel
in all he did. Jeffries had a particular interest in the study of breeding
thoroughbreds, although not in racing them, and always kept fine horses. His
military service began in the militia when he was 14. He joined the 14th
(Hunter River) Infantry Regiment as a private in July 1912 under the compulsory
training scheme, and was promoted sergeant a year later. Commissioned second
lieutenant on 22 August 1914, he was mobilized for home defence duties and
instructed volunteers for the Australian Imperial Force at Newcastle and
Liverpool camps.[83]
Previous military service: 14th Infantry.[84]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Abermain, New South Wales [electorate of
Hunter].[85]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 12 October 1917—Passchendaele, Belgium.[87]

For most conspicuous bravery in
attack, when his company was held up by enemy machine gun fire from concrete
emplacements. Organising a party, [Captain Jeffries] rushed one emplacement,
capturing four machine guns and 35 prisoners. He then led his company forward
under extremely heavy enemy artillery barrage and enfilade machine gun fire to
the objective. Later, he again organised a successful attack on a machine gun
emplacement, capturing two machine guns and thirty more prisoners. This gallant
officer was killed during the attack, but it was entirely due to his bravery
and initiative that the centre of the attack was not held up for a lengthy
period. His example had a most inspiring influence.[88]

Place of
burial or cremation: Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele, Belgium.[91]

Frank John
Partridge

Born: 29
November 1924, Grafton, New South Wales [electorate of Page].[92]

Life before
the war:

Third of five children of Patrick
(Paddy) James Partridge, an Australian-born farmer, and his wife Mary, née
Saggs, who came from England. Frank left Tewinga Public School at the age of 13
and worked on the family farm—dairying and growing bananas at Upper Newee
Creek, near Macksville. While serving in the Volunteer Defence Corps, he was
called up for full-time duty in the Australian Military Forces on 26 March
1943.[93]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Upper Newee Creek, New South Wales [electorate
of Cowper].[94]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 24 July, 1945—Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.[96]

In New Guinea, on 24th July, 1945,
two fighting patrols, 8th Australian Infantry Battalion, were given the task of
eliminating an enemy outpost in Bougainville which denied any forward movement
to our troops. The preliminary artillery concentration caused the enemy bunkers
to be screened by a litter of felled banana plants, and from these well
concealed positions to their front and left, one of our Platoons came under
extremely fierce machine-gun, grenade and rifle fire. The forward section at
once suffered casualties and was pinned down together with two other sections.
Private Partridge was a rifleman in a section which, in carrying out an
encircling movement, immediately came under heavy medium machine-gun fire. He
was hit twice in the left arm and again in the left thigh, whilst the Bren
gunner was killed and two others seriously wounded, leaving only the section
leader unwounded, but another soldier began to move up from another position. Private
Partridge quickly appreciated the extreme gravity of the situation and decided
that the only possible solution was personal action by himself.

Despite wounds and with complete
disregard to his own safety, Private Partridge rushed forward under a terrific
burst of enemy fire and retrieved-the Bren gun from alongside the dead gunner,
when he challenged the enemy to come out and fight. He handed the Bren gun to
the newly arrived man to provide covering fire while he rushed this bunker,
into which he threw a grenade and silenced the medium machine-gun. Under cover
of the grenade burst, he dived into the bunker and, in a fierce hand-to-hand
fight, he killed the only living occupant with his knife. Private Partridge
then cleared the enemy dead from the entrance to the bunker and attacked
another bunker in the rear; but weakness from loss of blood compelled him to
halt, when he shouted to his section commander that he was unable to continue. With
the way clear by the silencing of the enemy medium machine-gun by Private
Partridge, the Platoon moved forward and established a defence perimeter in the
vicinity of the spot where Private Partridge lay wounded. Heavy enemy medium
machine-gun and rifle fire both direct and enfilade from other bunkers soon
created an untenable situation for the Platoon, which withdrew under its own covering
fire. Despite his wounds and weakness due to loss of blood, Private Partridge
joined in this fight and remained in action until the Platoon had withdrawn
after recovering their casualties.

The information gained by both
patrols, and particularly from Private Partridge, enabled an attack to be
mounted later. This led to the capture of a vital position sited on strong
defensive ground and strengthened by 43 bunkers and other dug in positions from
which the enemy fled in panic. The serious situation during the fight of the
two patrols was retrieved only by the outstanding gallantry and devotion to
duty displayed by Private Partridge, which inspired his comrades to heroic
action, leading to a successful withdrawal which saved the small force from
complete annihilation. The subsequent successful capture of the position was
due entirely to the incentive derived by his comrades from the outstanding
heroism and fortitude displayed by Private Partridge.[97]

Unit at time
of action: 8th Battalion, 23rd Brigade, II Australian Corps, AIF.[98]

Life after
the war:

Of the Australians who won the VC
in World War II, he was the youngest and the last ... After visiting London in
1946 for the Victory march, he was discharged from the AMF on 17 October in New
South Wales; he was again to travel to England in 1953 for the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II and in 1956 for the Victoria Cross centenary celebrations. Returning
to Upper Newee Creek, Partridge lived with his father in a dirt-floored
farmhouse. He devoted himself to self-education, reading the Encyclopaedia
Britannica by kerosene lamp and developing an extraordinarily retentive
memory. In 1962–63 he appeared as a contestant on the television quiz show,
‘Pick-a-Box’, compered by Bob Dyer; his laconic manner appealed strongly to
viewers. Partridge was one of only three contestants to win all forty boxes;
his prizes were valued at more than £12,000. At St Stephen’s Presbyterian
Church, Sydney, on 23 February 1963 he married Barbara Mavis Vyvienne Jenniffer
Wylie Dunlop, a 31-year-old nursing sister who lived at Turramurra. The wedding
received extensive media coverage. Barbara remained at Turramurra while Frank
built a new home at the farm. He drove to Sydney every weekend to see her.

Partridge was an honorary member
of the Returned Sailors’, Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia,
a life member and patron of the Macksville Ex-Servicemen’s Club, and
vice-president of the Nambucca district council of the Banana Growers’
Federation Co-operative Ltd. Harbouring deep political ambitions, he
confidently sought Country Party pre-selection for the House of Representatives
seat of Cowper in 1963. His views were regarded as rather extreme, and he lost
to Ian Robinson. Partridge agreed to be Robinson’s campaign-manager for the election
that year. To supplement the income from his farm, Partridge travelled around
the district selling life assurance. He was killed in a motorcar accident on 23
March 1964 near Bellingen and was buried with full military honours in
Macksville cemetery. His wife and three-month-old son survived him.[99]

Died: 23
March 1964, near Bellingen, New South Wales [electorate of Cowper].[100]

Place of
burial or cremation: Macksville Cemetery, New South Wales [electorate of
Cowper].[101]

Albert
Chalmers Borella (surname changed to Chalmers-Borella in 1939)

Son of Louis Borella, farmer, and
his wife Annie, née Chalmers, both native-born. His mother died when he was 4
and his father remarried. Educated at Borung and Wychitella state schools, he
later farmed in the Borung and Echuca districts; he also served for eighteen
months with a volunteer infantry regiment, the Victorian Rangers. From April
1910 Borella was employed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board, Melbourne.
He resigned in January 1913 and took up a pastoral lease, drawn by ballot, on
the Daly River, Northern Territory. With the help of Aboriginal boys he built a
house and ring-barked and partly fenced his holding before mounting costs
forced him to abandon it early in 1915.[103]
Previous military service: Served for 18 months in the Victorian Rifles.[104]

Place of residence prior to
enlistment: Daly River, Northern Territory [electorate of Lingiari].[105]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 17–18 July 1918—Villers-Bretonneux, France.

For most conspicuous bravery in
attack. Whilst leading his platoon with the first wave Lt. Borella marked an
enemy machine gun firing through our barrage. He ran out ahead of his men into
the barrage, shot two German machine-gunners with his revolver, and captured
the gun. He then led his party, now reduced to ten men and two Lewis guns,
against a very strongly held trench, using his revolver and later a rifle, with
great effect, causing many enemy casualties. His leading and splendid example
resulted in the garrison being quickly shot or captured. Two large dug-outs
were also bombed and thirty prisoners taken. Subsequently the enemy twice
counterattacked in strong force, on the second occasion outnumbering Lt.
Borella’s platoon by ten to one, but his cool determination inspired his men to
resist heroically, and the enemy were repulsed with very heavy loss.[107]

In 1920–39 Borella farmed on a
soldier-settlement block near Hamilton, Victoria. He was National Party
candidate for Dundas in the 1924 Legislative Assembly election and was only
narrowly defeated. He married Elsie Jane Love at Wesley Church, Hamilton, on 16
August 1928; from September 1939, when he changed his name by deed-poll, he and
his family used the surname Chalmers-Borella. On the outbreak of World War II
Borella was appointed lieutenant in the 12th Australian Garrison Battalion with
which he served until 1941 when he was attached to the Prisoner of War Group at
Rushworth. Promoted captain on 1 September 1942, he served with the 51st
Garrison Company at Myrtleford until discharged in 1945. He then moved to
Albury, New South Wales, joined the Commonwealth Department of Supply and
Shipping, and was an inspector of dangerous cargoes until his retirement in
1956. Survived by his wife and two of his four sons, he died on 7 February 1968
and was buried with full military honours in the Presbyterian cemetery. ‘A big
tough-looking bloke, the image we conjure up of the digger’, Borella was yet a
humane, quietly spoken and unostentatious man, ever ready to assist a worthy
cause.[109]

Died: 7
February 1968, Albury-Wodonga, New South Wales [electorate of Farrer].[110]

Place of
burial or cremation: Presbyterian Cemetery, North Albury, New South Wales
[electorate of Farrer.][111]

Reginald Roy Inwood

Born: 14
July 1890, Prospect, South Australia [electorate of Adelaide].[112]

Life before
the war:

Eldest son of Edward Inwood,
labourer, and his wife Mary Ann, née Minney. He was educated at North Adelaide
Public School and Broken Hill Model School. Inwood worked as a miner at Broken
Hill.[113]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Broken Hill, New South Wales [electorate of Parkes].[114]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 19–22 September 1917—Polygon Wood, Belgium.[116]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty during the advance to the second objective. He moved forward
through our barrage alone to an enemy strong post and captured it, together
with nine prisoners, killing several of the enemy. During the evening he
volunteered for a special all night patrol, which went out 600 yards in front
of our line, and there—by his coolness and sound judgement—obtained and sent
back very valuable information as to the enemy’s movements. In the early
morning of the 21st September, Pte. Inwood located a machine gun which was
causing several casualties. He went out alone and bombed the gun and team,
killing all but one, whom he brought in as a prisoner with the gun.[117]

Returning to a hero’s welcome at
Broken Hill in October Inwood contrasted, in a public speech, his departure
when he was, he claimed, ‘stoned by mongrels at the train’, with his return
when ‘those mongrels were the first to ... shake me by the hand ... If the boys
stick together like they did in France there will be no Bolshevikism in this
town ... I would like to be at one end of the street with a machine-gun and have
them at the other end’. Departing recruits had been hooted and jeered by
militant socialists at Broken Hill but there is no evidence of stone-throwing.
MP Considine, member for Barrier in the House of Representatives, accused
Inwood of trying ‘to incite trouble between returned soldiers and the working
classes’. Broken Hill was not a comfortable place for Inwood. He soon moved to
Adelaide and on 31 December 1918 married a widow Mabel Alice Collins, née
Weber. Inwood had difficulty in finding work. After an assault charge by
police, which resulted in a fine in 1919, and his divorce in 1921, he spent a
short time mining at Queenstown, Tasmania, and at a eucalyptus distillery on
Kangaroo Island. He returned to Adelaide and was employed by the city council
as a labourer in 1928–55. During World War II he served as a warrant officer
with the Australian Military Forces.

Inwood married Evelyn Owens in
1927 and after her death married Louise Elizabeth Gates in 1942. He had no
children. A rugged, independent, well-built man, ‘with the rough corners still
on him’, the years after his third marriage were spent happily and quietly.
This loyal labourer, perhaps exploited by some at Broken Hill, gave the
impression that ‘his VC had not done him much good’. He never lost his pride in
the 10th Battalion and always marched with them on Anzac Day. The Other Ranks
Mess, 10th Battalion, Torrens Parade Ground, Adelaide, is called the Roy Inwood
Club. His Victoria Cross hangs in the council chambers of the Adelaide City
Council. He died on 23 October 1971, was given a military funeral and was
buried in West Terrace cemetery. Two brothers, Harold and Robert, also served
with the AIF; the latter was killed in action at Pozières.[119]

James Rogers

Born on 4 July 1873, at Woodside
Farm, Moama, New South Wales, son of Welsh-born John Rogers, farmer, and his
wife Sarah Louisa, née Johnstone, from Sydney. Rogers was educated locally at
public schools. In 1886 his family moved to Heywood, Victoria, where he later
worked on his father’s farm and joined the local company of the Victorian
Mounted Rifles in 1898. He was 6 ft 2 ins (188 cm) tall, 12 stone (76 kg) and a
superb horseman, tough bushman and crack rifle-shot.[123]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Heywood, Victoria [electorate of Wannon].[124]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: Thaba Nchu, near Bloemfontein, South Africa.[126]

On the 15th June, 1901, during a
skirmish near Thaba ‘Nchu, a party of the rearguard of Captain Sitwell’s
column, consisting of Lieutenant F. Dickinson, Sergeant James Rogers, and 6 men
of the South African Constabulary, was suddenly attacked by about 60 Boers.
Lieutenant Dickinson’s horse having been shot, that Officer was compelled to
follow his men on foot. Sergeant Rogers seeing this, rode back, firing as he
did so, took Lieutenant Dickinson up behind him, and carried him for
half-a-mile on his horse. The Sergeant then returned to within 400 yards of the
enemy and carried away, one after the other, two men who had lost their horses,
after which he caught the horses of two other men, and helped the men to mount.
All this was done under a very heavy rifle fire. The Boers were near enough to
Sergeant Rogers to call upon him to surrender; his only answer was to continue
firing.[127]

Rogers tried to obtain a
commission in the Australian Military Forces but was unsuccessful. After buying
and then selling a farm at Yea, Victoria, he returned to South Africa where he
served as a special detective with the Cape Police until February 1904. On 25
April 1907, describing himself as a mounted trooper, he married Ethel Maud
Seldon at Portland, Victoria; they had two sons. By 1912 Rogers was a marker at
Williamstown rifle range and by the outbreak of World War I he was an assistant
ranger there. On 6 December 1914 he was commissioned in the 3rd Light Horse
Brigade Train, Australian Army Service Corps, Australian Imperial Force. He was
seriously wounded at Gallipoli on 4 August 1915 and evacuated to Egypt. He then
served with the Anzac Provost Corps before returning to Australia on 18 July
1916. Rogers resumed work at Williamstown as a range assistant, then in 1921
became an assistant storeman, Ordnance Branch, AMF, Victoria. He resigned in
1922 and resumed farming. He lived at Kew, Melbourne, for over thirty years;
then, after his wife died, with his one surviving son at Roseville, Sydney.[129]

Died: 28
October 1961, Concord, New South Wales [electorate of Reid].

Place
of burial or cremation: Cremated at Springvale Crematorium, Springvale,
Victoria [electorate of Bruce].[130]

Peter John Badcoe (also
recorded as Peter John Badcock and Peter James Badcock)

Born: 11
January 1934, Malvern, South Australia [electorate of Adelaide].[131]

Life before
the war:

Son of Leslie Allen Badcock,
public servant, and his wife Gladys Mary Ann May, née Overton. Educated at
Adelaide Technical High School, in 1950 Peter entered the South Australian
Public Service as a clerk. He enlisted in the Australian Regular Army on 10
June 1950. Graduating from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea, Victoria, on 13
December 1952, he was allocated to the Royal Australian Artillery. Postings to
the 14th National Service Training Battalion (1953 and 1955–57) and the 1st
Field Regiment (1953–55 and 1957–58) followed. On 26 May 1956 he married
17-year-old Denise Maureen MacMahon in the Methodist Church, Manly, Sydney.

Promoted temporary captain, in
December 1958 Badcock was sent to Army Headquarters as a staff officer. In 1961
he changed his surname to Badcoe. While serving in Malaya with the 103rd Field
Battery from September 1961 to November 1963, he spent a week (7–14 November
1962) in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). He saw the conditions under
which the South resisted communist insurgency which was led by the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). Back in Australia, Badcoe returned to the
1st Field Regiment, but in 1965 transferred to the infantry; in June 1966 he
was promoted provisional major. He arrived in Saigon on 6 August to join the
Australian Army Training Team Vietnam. Short, round and stocky, with
horn-rimmed spectacles, Badcoe did not look a hero. He was a quiet, gentle and
retiring man, with a dry sense of humour. His wife was his confidante. Badcoe
neither drank alcohol nor smoked; bored by boisterous mess activities, he preferred
the company of a book on military history. To his colleagues he was an enigma,
yet many humoured his boundless enthusiasm in field exercises and his off-duty
discourses on martial matters.[132]

Place of
residence following enlistment: Hammondville, New South Wales [electorate of
Hughes].[133]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: February–April 1967, Vietnam.[135]

Major Peter John Badcoe was
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Australian Staff Corps in December
1952. He was allotted to the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery in which he
served in a number of Regimental and Staff postings until August 1965. He then
transferred to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps and joined the Australian
Army Training Team Vietnam in August 1966. He was posted as Sector Operations
Office in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam.

On 23rd February 1967 he was
acting as an Adviser to a Regional Force Company in support of a Sector
operation in Thu Thu district. He monitored a radio transmission which stated
that the Subsector Advisor, a United States Army officer, had been killed and
that his body was within 50 metres of an enemy machine-gun position; further,
the United States Medical Advisor had been wounded and was in immediate danger
from the enemy. Major Badcoe with complete disregard for his own safety moved
alone across 600 metres of fire-swept ground and reached the wounded advisor,
attended to him and ensured his future safety. He then organised a force of one
platoon and led them towards the enemy post. His personal leadership, words of
encouragement, and actions in the face of hostile enemy fire forced the platoon
to successfully assault the enemy position and capture it, where he personally
killed the machine gunners directly in front of him. He then picked up the body
of the dead officer and ran back to the Command Post over open ground still
covered by enemy fire.

On 7 March 1967 at approximately
0645 hours, the Sector Reaction Company was deployed to Quang Dien Subsector to
counter an attack by the Viet Cong on the Headquarters. Major Badcoe left the
Command group after their vehicle broke down and a United States officer was
killed; he joined the Company Headquarters and personally led the company in an
attack over open terrain to assault and capture a heavily defended enemy
position. In the face of certain death and heavy loss his personal courage and
leadership turned certain defeat into victory and prevented the enemy from
capturing the District Headquarters.

On 7th April 1967, on an operation
in Huong Tra District, Major Badcoe was with the 1st ARVN Division Reaction
Company and some armoured personnel carriers. During the move forward to an
objective the company came under heavy small arms fire and withdrew to a cemetery
for cover, this left Major Badcoe and his radio operator about 50 metres in
front of the leading elements, under heavy mortar fire. Seeing this withdrawal,
Major Badcoe ran back to them, moved amongst them and by encouragement and
example got them moving forward again. He then set out in front of the company
to lead them on; the company stopped again under heavy fire but Major Badcoe
continued on to cover and prepared to throw grenades, when he rose to throw,
his radio operator pulled him down as heavy small arms fire was being brought
to bear on them: he later got up again to throw a grenade and was hit and
killed by a burst of machine gun fire. Soon after, friendly artillery fire was
called in and the position was assaulted and captured. Major Badcoe’s conspicuous
gallantry and leadership on all these occasions was an inspiration to all, each
action, ultimately, was successful, due entirely to his efforts, the final one
ending in his death. His valour and leadership were in the highest traditions
of the military profession and the Australian Regular Army.[136]

Charles Groves
Wright Anderson

Third of five children of Alfred
Gerald Wright Anderson, an English-born auditor and later newspaper editor, and
his Belgian-born wife Emma (Maïa) Louise Antoinette, née Trossaert. In 1900 the
family moved to the East Africa Protectorate (Kenya) and settled on a farm near
Nairobi called Mount Margaret. After beginning his education at a government
school in Nairobi, Charles was sent in 1907 to England, where he lived with an
uncle and aunt before entering St Brendan’s College, Bristol, in 1910. On his
return to Africa, Anderson enlisted in the local volunteers in November 1914,
following the start of World War I. Next year he joined the Calcutta Volunteer
Battery. On 13 October 1916 he was commissioned temporary lieutenant in the
King’s African Rifles. Serving with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment, he
displayed outstanding leadership during fighting at Nhamacurra, Portuguese East
Africa (Mozambique), in July 1918 and was awarded the Military Cross (1919).
Before he was demobilised in February 1919, he was promoted to temporary
captain.

Turning to farming, Anderson
served as chairman of the Kenya Settlers’ Association in the Rift Valley district.
At the Anglican Cathedral of the Highlands, Nairobi, on 21 February 1931 he
married Edith Marian Tout, a niece of (Sir) Frederick Tout, who came from
Young, New South Wales, to tour Africa. During a subsequent visit to Australia,
Anderson was impressed by his wife’s home country. In 1935 they migrated to
Australia with their daughter and twin sons. He purchased a 2200-acre (890 ha)
grazing property, Fernhill, at Crowther, near Young. On 3 March 1939 Anderson
was appointed a captain in the 56th Battalion (Riverina Regiment), Militia.
Promoted to major in October, he transferred to the Australian Imperial Force
on 1 July 1940 as second-in-command of the 2/19th Battalion.[141]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Crowther, New South Wales [electorate of Riverina].[142]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 18–22 January 1942, Muar, Malaysia.[144]

During the operations in Malaya
from the 18th to 22nd Jan. 1942, Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson, in command of a
small Force, was sent to restore a vital position and to assist a Brigade. His
Force destroyed ten enemy tanks. When later cut off, he defeated persistent
attacks on his position from air and ground forces, and forced his way through
the enemy lines to a depth of fifteen miles. He was again surrounded and
subjected to very heavy and frequent attacks resulting in severe casualties to
his Force. He personally led an attack with great gallantry on the enemy who
were holding a bridge, and succeeded in destroying four guns.
Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson throughout all this fighting, protected his wounded
and refused to leave them. He obtained news by wireless of the enemy position
and attempted to fight his way back through eight miles of enemy occupied
country. This proved to be impossible and the enemy were holding too strong a
position for any attempt to be made to relieve him. On the 19th January
Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson was ordered to destroy his equipment and make his
way back as best he could round the enemy position. Throughout the fighting,
which lasted for four days, he set a magnificent example of brave leadership,
determination and outstanding courage. He not only showed fighting qualities of
a very high order but throughout exposed himself to danger without any regard
to his own personal safety.[145]

Unit at time
of action: 2/19th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 8th Division, AIF.[146]
Life after the war:

Freed after Japan’s surrender,
Anderson was repatriated in November 1945 and next month placed on the Reserve
of Officers. He returned to farming near Young and later took over a property,
Springfield, that his wife had inherited. At the 1949 Federal election Anderson
won the House of Representatives seat of Hume for the Country Party. He became
an advocate for rural issues and for improving the rehabilitation of service
personnel. Defeated in 1951, he stood unsuccessfully in 1954 before regaining
Hume next year; re-elected in 1958, he served until again defeated in 1961.
During his second term, he was a member of the joint committees on the
Australian Capital Territory (1957–61) and Foreign Affairs (1961). In 1955
Anderson had revisited Kenya and Britain; in 1959 he returned to Thailand as
special Australian representative during wreath-layings on war graves at the
River Kwai. He retained his military links, becoming honorary colonel of the
56th Battalion (1956–57) and the 4th Battalion (1957–60), Citizen Military
Forces. In 1968 he again visited Malaya as the guest of the British 17th
Division, which was conducting a study tour of the Muar battle. On 11 November
1988 he died in his home at Red Hill, Canberra, and was cremated with full
military honours. He was survived by two daughters and a son; his wife and
their other son predeceased him.[147]

Place
of burial or cremation: Cremated at Norwood Crematorium, Mitchell, Australian
Capital Territory [electorate of Fenner].[149]

Joseph Maxwell

Born: 10
February 1896, Forest Lodge, New South Wales
[electorate of Sydney].[150]

Life before
the war:

Son of John Maxwell, labourer, and
his wife Elizabeth, née Stokes. Employed as an apprentice boilermaker in Newcastle,
he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 8 February 1915.[151] Previous
military service: Served for three years in the Senior Cadets; two years in the
Citizen Military Forces.[152]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: West Maitland, New South Wales [electorate of Paterson].[153]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 3 October 1918, near Estrees, France.[155]

For most conspicuous bravery and
leadership in attack on the Beaurevoir–Fonsomme line, near Estrees, north of St
Quentin, on the 3rd October, 1918. His company commander was severely wounded
early in the advance and Lt. Maxwell at once took charge. The enemy wire when
reached under intense fire was found to be exceptionally strong, and closely
supported by machine guns, whereupon Lt. Maxwell pushed forward single handed
through the wire and captured the most dangerous gun, killing three and
capturing four enemy. He thus enabled his company to penetrate the wire and
reach the objective. Later, he again dashed forward and silenced, single
handed, a gun which was holding up a flank company. Subsequently, when with two
men only he attempted to capture a strong party of the enemy, he handled a most
involved situation very skilfully, and it was due to his resource that he and
his comrades escaped. Throughout the day Lt. Maxwell set a high example of
personal bravery, coupled with excellent judgement and quick decision.[156]

In just over twelve months Maxwell
was awarded the DCM, the MC and Bar and the VC, and he was only 22 when the war
ended. After returning to Australia in 1919 he worked in a variety of occupations
in Sydney, Canberra and New South Wales country towns. On 14 February 1921,
describing himself as a reporter, he married a 19-year-old tailoress, Mabel
Maxwell (not a relative) at Bellevue Hill, Sydney, with Catholic rites. There
was a daughter of the marriage which was dissolved in 1926 with his wife as
petitioner. In 1932, helped by Hugh Buggy, Maxwell published the very
successful Hell’s Bells and Mademoiselles, an account of the war as he
saw it; at the time he was working as a gardener with the Department of the
Interior in Canberra. His health was often very unstable. He attempted,
unsuccessfully because of his age, to enlist in the 2nd AIF, but eventually
succeeded in enlisting in Queensland under a false name; his identity was
discovered and he was discharged. On 6 March 1956, stating that he was a
journalist of Bondi, he married a widow Anne Martin, née Burton, in Sydney. In
1964, with his wife, he attended the opening of VC Corner in the Australian War
Memorial, Canberra. He was adamant that his VC would not end up there, as he
took the view that ‘lumping’ all the VCs together cheapened the award. On 6
July 1967 Maxwell collapsed and died of a heart attack in a street in his home
suburb of Matraville; he had for some time been an invalid pensioner. After a
service with military honours at St Matthias Anglican Church, Paddington, he
was cremated. His widow donated his medals to the Army Museum, Victoria
Barracks, Paddington.[158]

Died: 6 July
1967, Matraville, New South Wales [electorate of Kingsford Smith].[159]

Place of
burial or cremation: Cremated at Eastern Suburbs Crematorium, Botany Bay, New
South Wales [electorate of Kingsford Smith].[160]

Thomas James Bede Kenny

Born: 29
September 1896, Paddington, New South Wales [electorate of Wentworth].[161]

Life before
the war:

Son of Austin James Kenny,
butcher, from Auckland, New Zealand, and his wife Mary Christina, née Connolly,
of New South Wales. Bede Kenny was educated at the Christian Brothers’ College,
Waverley. He began to train as a chemist’s assistant at Bondi but after three
months he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 23 August 1915.[162]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Bondi, New South Wales [electorate of
Wentworth].[163]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 April 1917—Hermies, France.[165]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty, when his platoon was held up by an enemy strong point, and
severe casualties prevented progress. Private Kenny, under very heavy fire at
close range, dashed alone towards the enemy’s position, killed one man in
advance of the strong point who endeavoured to bar his way. He then bombed the
position, captured the gun crew, all of whom he had wounded, killed an officer
who showed fight, and seized the gun. Pte. Kenny’s gallant action enabled his
platoon to occupy the position, which was of great local importance.[166]

Though he described his injuries
as ‘nothing to write home about’ he was invalided to Australia in August 1918,
having become a corporal that month. He arrived in Sydney on 9 October to a
tumultuous welcome. He rejected an offer to join the military police, whom he
disliked intensely, and was discharged on 12 December. Returning to civilian
life, Kenny first worked for Clifford Love & Co., manufacturers, importers
and merchants, as their northern New South Wales traveller. He then joined the Sunday
Times newspaper in Sydney, and shortly after became a traveller for Penfolds
Wines Ltd. He married Kathleen Dorothy Buckley, a florist, at St Mary’s
Cathedral, on 29 September 1927; they had three children and their home is
remembered as a happy one. Kenny repeatedly suffered the effects of trench
feet; the war had also made him partially deaf. He never recovered from the
deaths of his elder daughter in 1943 and his only son in 1948 (both from
rheumatic fever). Survived by his wife and one daughter, he died in Concord
Repatriation Hospital, Sydney, on 15 April 1953 and was buried in Botany
cemetery. It was a bitter irony that the pall bearers at his funeral were
military policemen. Kenny was a staunch Catholic, a vital man of immense
character and physical stature. He had no shortage of friends and was often
involved in good-natured pranks. Though he never talked openly of his wartime
experiences, he always led the V.C. winners in the Sydney Anzac Day march. In
1957 the Bede Kenny Memorial Ward was opened at Wentworth Private Hospital,
Randwick, to provide beds for ex-servicemen ineligible for repatriation
hospital treatment.[168]

Died: 15
April 1953, Concord, New South Wales [electorate of Reid].

Place of
burial or cremation: Botany Cemetery, Matraville, New South Wales [electorate
of Kingsford Smith].[169]

Mark Gregor Strang Donaldson

Born: 2
April 1979, Waratah, New South Wales [electorate of Newcastle].[170]

Life before
the war:

He spent his formative years in
northern NSW where he graduated from high school in 1996. Trooper Donaldson
enlisted into the Australian Army on 18 June 2002 and entered recruit training
at the Army Recruit Training Centre, Kapooka, NSW. He demonstrated an early
aptitude for soldiering and was awarded the prizes for best shot and best at
physical training in his platoon. Subsequently he was allocated to the Royal Australian
Infantry Corps and posted to the school of infantry at Singleton, NSW, where he
excelled in his initial employment training. At the completion of this training
he was again awarded best shot and best at physical training, as well as the
award for the most outstanding soldier in his platoon. He was posted to 1st
Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Townsville, QLD in November 2002. It was
during this time that Trooper Donaldson decided to pursue his ambition to join
the Special Air Service Regiment. In February 2004, he successfully completed
the Special Air Service Regiment selection course and was posted to the
regiment in May 2004. He was then posted to I Troop, 3 Special Air Service
Squadron. Since that time he has been deployed on operations to East Timor,
Afghanistan and Iraq.

On 12 August 2008, Trooper
Donaldson was wounded in action whilst conducting nighttime operations in
Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. He recovered from his minor wounds and continued
on the deployment. Trooper Donaldson was involved in an incident on 2 September
2008 in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan that resulted in him being awarded the
Victoria Cross for Australia. He was invested by her Excellency the
Governor-General of Australia at Government House, Canberra on 16 January 2009.
Trooper Donaldson remains posted to the Special Air Service Regiment in Perth,
WA. Trooper Donaldson is married to Emma and has a daughter Kaylee. His parents
are deceased.[171]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan.[173]

For most conspicuous acts of gallantry in action in a
circumstance of great peril in Afghanistan as part of the Special Operations
Task Group during Operation SLIPPER, Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Trooper
Mark Gregor Donaldson enlisted into the Australian Army on 18 June 2002. After
completing Recruit and Initial and Employment Training he was posted to the 1st
Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment. Having successfully completed the
Special Air Service Selection Course in April 2004, Trooper Donaldson was
posted to Special Air Service Regiment in May 2004.

On 2 September 2008, during the conduct of a fighting patrol,
Trooper Donaldson was travelling in a combined Afghan, US and Australian
vehicle convoy that was engaged by a numerically superior, entrenched and
coordinated enemy ambush. The ambush was initiated by a high volume of
sustained machine gun fire coupled with the effective use of rocket propelled
grenades. Such was the effect of the initiation that the combined patrol
suffered numerous casualties, completely lost the initiative and became
immediately suppressed. It was over two hours before the convoy was able to
establish a clean break and move to an area free of enemy fire. In the early
stages of the ambush, Trooper Donaldson reacted spontaneously to regain the
initiative. He moved rapidly between alternate positions of cover engaging the
enemy with 66mm and 84mm anti-armour weapons as well as his M4 rifle. During an
early stage of the enemy ambush, he deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire
in order to draw attention to himself and thus away from wounded soldiers. This
selfless act alone bought enough time for those wounded to be moved to relative
safety.

As the enemy had employed the tactic of a rolling ambush, the
patrol was forced to conduct numerous vehicle manoeuvres, under intense enemy
fire, over a distance of approximately four kilometres to extract the convoy
from the engagement area. Compounding the extraction was the fact that
casualties had consumed all available space within the vehicles. Those who had
not been wounded, including Trooper Donaldson, were left with no option but to
run beside the vehicles throughout. During the conduct of this vehicle
manoeuvre to extract the convoy from the engagement area, a severely wounded
coalition force interpreter was inadvertently left behind. Of his own volition
and displaying complete disregard for his own safety, Trooper Donaldson moved
alone, on foot, across approximately 80 metres of exposed ground to recover the
wounded interpreter. His movement, once identified by the enemy, drew intense
and accurate machine gun fire from entrenched positions. Upon reaching the
wounded coalition force interpreter, Trooper Donaldson picked him up and
carried him back to the relative safety of the vehicles then provided immediate
first aid before returning to the fight. On subsequent occasions during the
battle, Trooper Donaldson administered medical care to other wounded soldiers,
whilst continually engaging the enemy.

Trooper Donaldson’s acts of exceptional gallantry in the face
of accurate and sustained enemy fire ultimately saved the life of a coalition
force interpreter and ensured the safety of the other members of the combined
Afghan, US and Australian force. Trooper Donaldson’s actions on this day
displayed exceptional courage in circumstances of great peril. His actions are
of the highest accord and are in keeping with the finest traditions of the
Special Operations Command, the Australian Army and the Australian Defence
Force.[174]

Albert Edward
Chowne

Born: 19
July 1920, Willoughby, New South Wales [electorate of North Sydney].[176]

Life before
the war:

Seventh child of Balmain-born
parents Arthur James Chowne, grocer, and his wife Frances Ellen, née Dalziel.
The Chowne and Dalziel families were well known in the Willoughby district
where Bert grew up. Educated at Chatswood Boys’ Intermediate High and Naremburn
Junior Technical schools, he started work in 1935 as a shirtcutter at David
Jones Ltd. Chowne played for Gordon Rugby Union Football Club, and also enjoyed
scouting and tennis. He was 5 ft 9 ins (175 cm) tall, with brown hair, a fair
complexion and hazel eyes. Having served briefly in the Militia’s 36th
Battalion, on 27 May 1940 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force; he
described himself as a salesman, probably to avoid reserved-occupation status.[177]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Willoughby, New South Wales [electorate of
North Sydney].[178]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 25 March 1945, near Dagua, Papua New Guinea.[180]

For most conspicuous bravery,
brilliant leadership and devotion to duty during an attack on an enemy position
on a narrow ridge near Dagua, New Guinea, on 25th March, 1945. After the
capture of Dagua, the main enemy force withdrew southwards from the beach to
previously prepared positions on the flank of the Division. Further movement
towards Wewak was impossible while this threat to the flank existed and the
Battalion was ordered to destroy the enemy force. ‘A’ Company, after making
contact with the enemy on a narrow ridge, was ordered to attack the position.
The leading Platoon in the attack came under heavy fire from concealed enemy
machine guns site on a small rise dominating the approach. In the initial
approach one member of this Platoon was killed and nine wounded, including the
Platoon Commander, and the enemy continued to inflict casualties on our troops.
Without awaiting orders, Lieutenant Chowne, whose Platoon was in reserve,
instantly appreciated the plight of the leading Platoon and rushed the enemy's
position. Running up a steep, narrow track, he hurled grenades which knocked
out two enemy Light-Machine Guns. Then, calling on his men to follow him and
firing his submachine gun from the hip, he charged the enemy's position.
Although he sustained two serious wounds in the chest, the impetus of his
charge carried him 50 yards forward under the most intense machine gun and
rifle fire. Lieutenant Chowne accounted for two more Japanese before he was
killed standing over three foxholes occupied by the enemy. The superb heroism
and self-sacrifice of this officer, culminating in his death, resulted in the
capture of this strongly-held enemy position, ensured the further immediate
success of his Company in this area and paved the way directly for the
continuance of the Division's advance to Wewak.[181]

Unit at time
of action: 2/2nd Battalion, 16th Brigade, 6th Division, AIF.[182]
Died: 25 March 1945, between Dagua and Wewak, Papua New Guinea.[183]

Place of
burial or cremation: Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea..[184]

Patrick Joseph Bugden

Born: 17
March 1897, Lismore, New South Wales [electorate of Page].[185]

Life before
the war:

Eldest child of Thomas Bugden,
farmer, and his wife Annie, née Connolly, both native-born. His father died
when Bugden was 6, leaving four children; and his mother remarried. Educated at
Gundurimba Public School and the convent school at Tatham, he later worked for
his stepfather as a barman at the Federal Hotel, Alstonville; outgoing and
popular, he excelled at football, cricket and shot-putting. Before joining the
Australian Imperial Force he completed twelve months military training under
the compulsory scheme introduced in 1911.[186]
Previous military service: Served for 1 year in the Compulsory Military
Training scheme.[187]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Alstonville, New South Wales [electorate of
Page].[188]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 26–28 September 1917—Polygon Wood, Belgium.[190]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty when on two occasions our advance was temporarily held up by
strongly-defended ‘pill-boxes.’ Pte. Bugden, in the face of devastating fire
from machine guns, gallantly led small parties to attack these strong points
and, successfully silencing the machine guns with bombs, captured the garrison
at the point of the bayonet. On another occasion, when a corporal, who had
become detached from his company, had been captured and was being taken to the
rear by the enemy, Pte. Bugden, single-handed, rushed to the rescue of his
comrade, shot one enemy and bayoneted the remaining two, thus releasing the
Corporal. On five occasions he rescued wounded men under intense shell and
machine-gun fire, showing an utter contempt and disregard for danger. Always
foremost in volunteering for any dangerous mission, it was during the execution
of one of these missions that this gallant soldier was killed.[191]

Place of
burial or cremation: Hooge Crater Cemetery, Zillebeke, Belgium.[194]

Alexander Henry Buckley

Born: 22 July
1891, Warren, New South Wales [electorate of Parkes].[195]

Life before
the war:

Fourth child of James Buckley,
selector, and his wife Julia, née Falkanhagan, both of whom were
Victorian-born. He was educated at home by his parents and later farmed with his
father on Homebush, a property near Gulargambone.[196]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: near Gulargambone, New South Wales [electorate of Parkes]. [197]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1–2 September 1918, Peronne, France.[199]

For most conspicuous bravery and
self-sacrifice at Peronne during the operations on l/2nd September, 1918. After
passing the first objective his half-company and part of the company on the
flank were held up by an enemy machinegun nest. With one man he rushed the
post, shooting four of the occupants and taking 22 prisoners. Later on,
reaching a moat, it was found that another machine-gun nest commanded the only
available foot-bridge. Whilst this was being engaged from a flank Corporal
Buckley endeavoured to cross the bridge and rush the post, but was killed in
the attempt. Throughout the advance he had displayed great initiative, resource
and courage, and by his effort to save his comrades from casualties, he set a
fine example of self-sacrificing devotion to duty.[200]

Arthur Charles Hall

Born: 11 August
1896, Granville, New South Wales [electorate of Parramatta].[204]

Life before
the war:

Eldest son of Charles Hall,
grazier, of Glenelg station near Nyngan, and his wife Emma Jane, née King. He
attended All Saints’ College, Bathurst, in 1909–12 and became an overseer on
his father’s properties.[205]
Previous military service: Served in the Senior Cadets for two years.[206]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Nyngan, New South Wales [electorate of
Parkes].[207]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1–2 September 1918, Peronne, France.[209]

For most conspicuous bravery,
brilliant leadership, and devotion to duty during the operations at Peronne on
1st and 2nd September, 1918. During the attack on the 1st September a machine
gun post was checking the advance. Single handed [Corporal Hall] rushed the
position, shot four of the occupants, and captured nine others, and two machine
guns. Then crossing the objective with a small party, he afforded excellent
covering support to the remainder of the company. Continuously in advance of
the main party, he located enemy posts of resistance and personally led parties
to the assault. In this way he captured many small parties of prisoners and
machine guns. On the morning of the 2nd September, during a heavy barrage, he
carried to safety a comrade who had been dangerously wounded and was urgently
in need of medical attention, and immediately returned to his post. The energy
and personal courage of this gallant non-commissioned officer contributed largely
to the success of the operations, throughout which he showed utter disregard of
danger and inspired confidence in all.[210]

On 11 October 1918 he was transferred
to the 56th Battalion and on 6 March 1919 was promoted temporary sergeant a
rank he retained until his discharge from the AIF on 3 August in Sydney. After
demobilization Hall returned to the Nyngan district where he bought a pastoral
property, Gundooee station, near Coolabah. On 26 April 1927 he married
Catherine Jessie Hemington Harris at the Union Church, Lahey’s Creek, with
Anglican rites. In 1942 he served as a lieutenant in the 7th Garrison Battalion
and on returning to Gundooee carried on his pastoral activities, running sheep
and building up a fine herd of Poll Devon cattle. He was president of the
Nyngan Picnic Race Club for twenty years and was a foundation member and keen
competitor in the Coolabah District Rifle Club; he was also active in the Nyngan
District Historical Society. Survived by his wife, a daughter and three sons,
Hall died in Nyngan District Hospital on 25 February 1978. He was buried at the
tiny Anglican Church of St Matthew’s, West Bogan, which had been built from
timber cut and milled on his property. His estate was sworn for probate at
$160,191. He left his Victoria Cross to the Australian War Memorial.[212]

Died: 25
February 1978, Nyngan, New South Wales [electorate of Parkes].[213]

Place of
burial or cremation: West Bogan Anglican Cemetery, Coolabah, New South Wales
[electorate of Parkes].[214]

John Woods Whittle

Son of Henry Whittle, labourer,
and his wife Catherine, née Sullivan. John enlisted as a private in Tasmania’s
4th (2nd Imperial Bushmen) Contingent which reached South Africa on 24 April
1901, saw action in the Cape Colony and returned to Tasmania in June 1902. Soon
after, he enlisted in the Royal Navy and served for five
years as a stoker before joining the Permanent Military Forces. On 23 July 1909
at the archbishop’s house, Hobart, he married with Catholic rites Emily
Margaret Roland; they were to have six children.[216] Previous military
service: Served for 3.6 years, Senior Cadets; five years, Royal Navy; one year
in South African War; one year, Australian Field Artillery.[217]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Claremont, Tasmania [electorate of Denison].[218]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 April 1917—Boursies, France.[220]

For conspicuous bravery and devotion
to duty on two occasions. When in command of a platoon, the enemy, under cover
of an intense artillery barrage, attacked the small trench he was holding.
Owing to weight of numbers the enemy succeeded in entering the trench, and it
was owing to Sjt. Whittle personally collecting all available men and charging
the enemy that the position was regained. On the second occasion when the enemy
broke through the left of our line, Sjt. Whittle’s own splendid example was the
means of keeping the men well in hand. His platoon were suffering heavy
casualties and the enemy endeavoured to bring up a machine gun to enfilade the
position. Grasping the situation, he rushed alone across the fire swept ground
and attacked the hostile gun crew with bombs before the gun could be got into
action. He succeeded in killing the whole crew and in bringing back the machine
gun to our position.[221]

Wounded again during the German
offensive of March 1918, and once more in late July, Whittle returned to
Australia with other VC winners in October 1918 to take part in a planned
recruiting drive. Following the Armistice, he was discharged on 15 December and
lived in Sydney. He made a desperate plea in 1932: ‘I have been trying to
struggle on for some time, but the children are badly in need of boots and
clothing for the winter, and I cannot get any work’. Within a month he was employed
by the Western Assurance Co. On 7 February 1934 he saved a small boy from
drowning in an ornamental pool in University Park; though Whittle departed
without giving his name, the deed became widely known. Survived by his wife,
three daughters and a son, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 2 March 1946 at
Glebe and was buried in Rookwood cemetery. Whittle and Newland were the only
Australian VC winners of World War I to have been permanent servicemen before
the war. One of Whittle’s sons, Ivan Ernest, had joined the AIF and was killed
in September 1943 when a bomber crashed into the 2/33rd Battalion
marshalling area near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.[223]

Died: 2
March 1946, Glebe, New South Wales [electorate of Sydney].[224]

Place of
burial or cremation: Rookwood Cemetery, Rookwood, New South Wales [electorate
of Watson].[225]

John Hurst
Edmondson

Born: 8
October 1914,Wagga Wagga, New South Wales [electorate of Riverina].[226]

Life before
the war:

Only child of native-born parents
Joseph William Edmondson, farmer, and his wife Maude Elizabeth, née Hurst. The
family moved to a farm near Liverpool when Jack was a child. Educated at
Hurlstone Agricultural High School, he worked with his father and became a
champion rifle-shooter. He was a council-member of the Liverpool Agricultural
Society and acted as a steward at its shows. Having served (from March 1939) in
the 4th Battalion, Militia, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 20
May 1940 and was posted to the 2nd/17th Battalion. Later that month he was
promoted acting corporal (substantive in November). Well built and about 5 ft 9
ins (175 cm) tall, Edmondson settled easily into army life and was known as a
quiet but efficient soldier.[227]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Liverpool, New South Wales [electorate of Fowler].[228]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 13–14 April 1941—Tobruk, Libya.[230]

On the night of the 13-14th April,
1941, a party of German infantry broke through the wire defences at Tobruk and
established themselves with at least six machine guns, mortars and two small
field pieces. It was decided to attack them with bayonets, and a party
consisting of one officer, Corporal Edmondson and five privates, took part in
the charge. During the counter-attack Corporal Edmondson was wounded in the
neck and stomach but continued to advance under heavy fire and killed one enemy
with his bayonet. Later, his officer had his bayonet in one of the enemy and
was grasped about the legs by him, when another attacked him from behind. He
called for help, and Corporal Edmondson, who was some yards away, immediately
came to his assistance and in spite of his wounds, killed both of the enemy.
This action undoubtedly saved his officer’s life. Shortly after returning from
this successful counter-attack, Corporal Edmondson died of his wounds. His
actions throughout the operations were outstanding for resolution, leadership
and conspicuous bravery.[231]

Place of
burial or cremation: Tobruk War Cemetery, Tobruk, Libya.[234]

John William Alexander Jackson

Born: 13
September 1897, Gunbar, New South Wales [electorate of Farrer].[235]

Life before
the war:

Son of John Gale Jackson and
Adelaide Ann (née McFarlane), John William Alexander Jackson was working as a
labourer on a property near Gunbar when he enlisted.[236] According to an uncle of
Jackson’s quoted in 1917, ‘my nephew had never even seen a train until he
enlisted.’[237]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Gunbar, New South Wales [electorate of Farrer].[238]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 25–26 June 1916, Armentières, France.[240]

For most conspicuous bravery. On
the return from a successful raid, several members of the raiding party were
seriously wounded in ‘No Man’s Land’ by shell fire. Pte. Jackson got back
safely and, after handing over a prisoner whom he had brought in, immediately
went out again under very heavy shell fire and assisted in bringing in a
wounded man. He then went out again, and with a sergeant was bringing another
wounded man when his arm was blown off by a shell and the sergeant was rendered
unconscious. He then returned to our trenches, obtained assistance, and went
out again to look for his two wounded comrades. He set a splendid example of
pluck and determination. His work has always been marked by the greatest
coolness and bravery.[241]

Jackson was evacuated and his arm
was amputated. He embarked for Australia on 4 May 1917 and was discharged on 15
September. Returning to Merriwa, he began dealing in horses and animal skins
but in 1927 became licensee of the Figtree hotel in Wollongong. Jackson then
moved to Sydney in 1929 for employment. He had several jobs, including clerical
work with the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board. On 12 January
1932 he married a dressmaker, Ivy Muriel Alma Morris, at St Paul’s Anglican
Church, Kogarah; there was one daughter of the marriage which was dissolved in
1955. During World War II he served as an acting sergeant in Eastern Command
Provost Company, 1941–42. In 1953 he moved to Melbourne and became
commissionaire and inquiry attendant at the Melbourne Town Hall. In 1956
Jackson visited England to attend Victoria Cross centenary celebrations.
Survived by his daughter, he died of arteriosclerotic heart disease on 4 August
1959 at the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Melbourne, and was cremated. Jackson
was the youngest Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I and
his was the first VC to be awarded to a member of the AIF in France.[243]

Place of
burial or cremation: Cremated at Springvale Crematorium, Springvale, Victoria [electorate
of Bruce].[245]

Reginald Roy Rattey

Born: 28
March 1918, Barmedman, New South Wales [electorate of Riverina].[246]

Life before
the war:

The third of seven children of a
Lutheran couple, Johannes Albert Rattey a Springton, South Australia, born,
share farmer and his Munyabla New South Wales born wife Anna Elisabeth (nee
Damschke) who were married at Pleasant Hills on February 26 1914 ... At the time
of Reg’s birth the then thirty one year old Johannes was share-farming for a
solicitor Mr. T Farrell, three years later he purchased ‘Pine Lodge’ near
Wargin, on the Barmedman to Rankins Springs Railway line, to which he later
added ‘Bon Accord’, these two properties totalling 1672 acres. Reg and his
siblings attended the small one teacher school at Bellarwi travelling the six
and a half km to and from school in a sulky pulled by the family’s pony
‘Podge’. After school and at weekends he helped with the work on the family
farm and for recreation regularly played tennis. During the depression it
became necessary for Reg and his elder brothers to find work away from the family
property. Reg was working at the Gibsonvale Open Cut Tin Mine at Kikoira and
was a member of the part time Citizens Forces the 21st Light Horse Regiment at
Wagga Wagga ... when war broke out.[247]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Barmedman, New South Wales [electorate of
Riverina].[248]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 22 March 1945, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.[250]

In the South West Pacific, on 22nd
March 1945 a company of an Australian Infantry Battalion was ordered to capture
a strongly held enemy position astride Buin Road, South Bougainville. The
attack was met by extremely heavy fire and all forward movement was stopped
with casualties mounting. Corporal Rattey quickly appreciated the serious
situation delaying the advance could only be averted by silencing enemy fire
from automatic weapons in bunkers, which dominated all the lines of approach.
He determined that a bold push by himself alone would surprise the enemy and
offered the best chance of success. With amazing courage he rushed forward
firing his Bren gun and hurling grenades. This completely neutralised enemy
fire. Corporal Rattey, now without grenades, raced back to his section under
extremely heavy fire and obtained two grenades with which he again rushed the
remaining bunkers, effectively silencing all opposition and enabling his company
to continue its advance. A little later the advance of his company was again
held up by a heavy machine gun firing across the front. Without hesitation
Corporal Rattey rushed the gun and silenced it. The company again continued its
advance and gained its objective, which was consolidated. The serious situation
was turned into a brilliant success, entirely by the courage, cool planning and
stern determination of Corporal Rattey. His bravery was an incentive to the
entire company, who fought with inspiration derived from the gallantry of
Corporal Rattey, despite the stubborn opposition to which they were subjected.[251]

Reg ... returned to West Wyalong
where a Public Meeting that had been held on August 11 had started a
testimonial fund for him and called on the Minister for Lands to grant him a
special lease of 2,400 acres of land fronting Lake Cowal. The Minister agreed
and the lease was arranged, of a bare undeveloped block, which Reg named
‘Weeloona’ and proceeded through sheer hard work to built a home and made this
land into a viable property, later adding a further 783 acres. At its peak this
property carried 1,000 merinos, 40 Hereford cows & calves, 60 pigs and had
700 acres sown to wheat. In 1946 Reg was notified that a place was available
for him with the Australian Victory Contingent, which was to be made up of 250
Australian Servicemen & women who between them held 162 Bravery Awards. The
Contingent was to represent Australia when the ‘Fighting Men and Women of the
British Empire’, marched in the Victory Parade through the streets of London on
8 June 1946 ... On March 13, 1948, Reg married nineteen year old Emily Joyce
Café, (daughter of Edward and Emily Kate Café who had married in England while
Edward was on leave there while serving with the 1st AIF) their only child a
daughter Jeanette was born on the 19 May 1949.

... In 1954 Reg then a widower,
declined an invitation to be part of the Official Celebrations for the Royal
Visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to Australia being unable to spare
the time away from his property. On 11 January 1955 Reg married Aileen Delaney,
the daughter of James & Ellen (nee O’Connor) Delaney there are four
children from this marriage, Robert, Carmel, Christine and Helen. Again not
able to spare the time away from his property in 1956 Reg declined an
invitation to attend with 300 other Victoria Cross recipients from around the
World the Victoria Cross Centenary Celebrations in London. The people of West
Wyalong understanding his dilemma, raised the money for Reg and Aileen to fly
to London for the celebrations and avoid a lengthy sea voyage. Reg Rattey VC
died of emphysema, aged 68 yrs, on the 10 January 1986. He was buried from St
Mary’s Catholic Church, West Wyalong, on Tuesday January 14, when 400 mourners
including Keith Payne VC., assembled with his family. Reg was given a full
military funeral attended by 118 members of the 5/7 Royal Australian Regiment
& the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.[253]

Died: 10
January 1986, West Wyalong, New South Wales [electorate of Riverina].[254]

Place of
burial or cremation: West Wyalong Lawn Cemetery, West Wyalong, New South Wales [electorate of Riverina].[255]

Edward John Francis (aka John) Ryan

Born: 9
February 1890, Tumut, New South Wales [electorate of Eden-Monaro].[256]

Life before
the war:

Second son of Michael Ryan, a
Sydney-born labourer, and his wife Eugenia, née Newman, from Gunning. Educated
locally, he worked as a labourer before enlisting in the Australian Imperial
Force at Wagga Wagga on 1 December 1915.[257]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Tumut, New South Wales [electorate of Eden-Monaro].[258]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 30 September 1918, near Bellicourt, France.[260]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty during an attack against the Hindenburg defences on 30th
September 1918. In the initial assault on the enemy’s positions Pte. Ryan went
forward with great dash and determination, and was one of the first to reach
the enemy trench. His exceptional skill and daring inspired his comrades, and,
despite heavy fire, the hostile garrison was soon overcome and the trench
occupied. The enemy then counter-attacked, and succeeded in establishing a
bombing party in the rear of the position. Under fire from front and rear, the
position was critical, and necessitated prompt action. Quickly appreciating the
situation, he organised and led the men near him with bomb and bayonet against
the enemy bombers, finally reaching the position with only three men. By
skilful bayonet work, his small party succeeded in killing the first three
Germans on the enemy’s flank, then, moving along the embarkment, Pte. Ryan
alone rushed the remainder with bombs. He fell wounded after he had driven back
the enemy, who suffered heavily as they retired across ‘No Man’s Land’. A
particularly dangerous situation had been saved by this gallant soldier, whose
example of determination, bravery and initiative was an inspiration to all.[261]

Private Ryan rejoined his
battalion in December and on 22 May 1919 received his VC from King George V at
Buckingham Palace. He returned to Sydney on 24 October and was discharged from
the AIF on 10 January 1920. A Sydney Morning Herald article described
him as ‘a thin lithe man with a smiling face that has been burned a deep
mahogany brown’. The subsequent years were not kind to John Ryan who, like so
many returned servicemen, found it hard to adjust to civilian life and to keep
a job. His circumstances worsened during the Depression when he was on the road
for four years. Destitute, in August 1935 he walked from Balranald, New South
Wales, to Mildura, Victoria, where he was given temporary work by the local
council and shortly after found employment in a Melbourne insurance office
where he remained for several years. By May 1941, in poor health, he was again
tramping the streets looking for work and was taken to hospital the day he was
to have started yet another job. He died of pneumonia in Royal Melbourne
Hospital on 3 June 1941 and was buried with military honours in the Catholic
section of Springvale cemetery where eight VC winners formed a guard of honour.
Unmarried, he was survived by two brothers and a sister Mrs PG Grant of Yass, New
South Wales, who presented his VC to the Australian War Memorial in November
1967. His brother Malcolm was a trooper with the Light Horse, AIF.[263]

Place of
burial or cremation: Springvale Cemetery, Springvale, Victoria [electorate of
Bruce].[265]

Arthur Roden Cutler

Born: 24 May
1916, Manly, New South Wales [electorate of Warringah].[266]

Life before
the war:

Growing up he was a keen sportsman
who enjoyed swimming, sailing, cycling and cricket. Cutler began his education
at the Manly public school and gained admission to Sydney Boys High School at
the age of 15. After school he worked for the Texas Company Australasia (later
to become Texaco). He studied economics at Sydney University at night and later
joined the public service. In March 1936, seeking extra money, he joined the
Sydney University Regiment. On 10 November 1939, he was commissioned as a
lieutenant in the militia.[267]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Manly, New South Wales [electorate of
Warringah].

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 19 June–6 July 1941, Merdjayoun, Syria.[269]

For most conspicuous and sustained
gallantry during the Syrian Campaign and for outstanding bravery during the bitter
fighting at Merdjayoun when this Artillery Officer became a byword amongst
forward troops with which he worked. At Merdjayoun on June 19th, 1941, our
Infantry attack was checked after suffering heavy casualties from an enemy
counter attack with tanks. Enemy machine gun fire swept the ground, but
Lieutenant pressed a continuation of the attack. With another Artillery Officer
and a small party he pushed on ahead of the Infantry and established an outpost
in a house. The telephone line was cut and he went out and mended this line
under machine gun fire and returned to the house from which the enemy post and
battery were successfully engaged.

The enemy then attacked this
outpost with Infantry and tanks, killing Bren gunners and mortally wounding
other Officers. Lieutenant Cutler and another manned an anti-tank rifle and
Bren gun and fought back driving the enemy infantry away. The tank continued to
attack but under constant fire from the anti-tank rifle and Bren gun eventually
withdrew. Lieutenant Cutler then personally supervised the evacuation of
wounded members of his party. Undaunted he pressed for a further advance. He
had been ordered to establish an outpost from which he could register the only
road by which enemy transport could enter the town. With a small party of
volunteers he pressed on until finally with one other he succeeded in
establishing an outpost right in the town which was occupied by the Foreign
Legion, despite enemy machine gun fire which prevented our Infantry from
advancing. At this time Lieutenant Cutler knew that the enemy were massing on
his left for counter attack and that he was in danger of being cut off.
Nevertheless, he carried out his task of registering the battery on the road
and engaging the enemy post. The enemy counter attacked with Infantry and tanks
and he was cut off. He was forced to go to ground, but after dark succeeded in
making his way back through enemy lines. His work on registering the only road
by which enemy transport could enter the town was of vital importance and a big
factor in the enemy’s subsequent retreat.

On the night of June 23rd-24th he
was in charge of a 25-pounder sent forward into our forward defended locality
to silence an enemy anti-tank gun and post which had held up our attack. This
he did and next morning the recapture of Merdjayoun was complete. Later at
Damour on 6th July when our forward Infantry were pinned to the ground by heavy
hostile machine gun fire, Lieutenant Cutler, regardless of all danger, went to
bring a line to his outpost when he was seriously wounded. Twenty-six hours
elapsed before it was possible to rescue this Officer, whose wound by this time
had become septic, necessitating the amputation of his leg. Throughout the
Campaign this Officer’s courage was unparalleled and his work was a big factor
in the capturing of Merdjayoun.[270]

Having been discharged, Cutler
became secretary of the New South Wales branch of the RSL before being employed
with the National Security Service; this was followed with a position in the
Repatriation Department. After the war he was appointed as High Commissioner to
New Zealand. He married Helen Morris on 28 May 1946. While in New Zealand they
had two sons, Roden and Anthony. Cutler then became ambassador to Ceylon where
a third son, Richard, was born. When the Ceylon posting finished, Cutler was
appointed head of Australia's legation to Egypt where he and Helen had another
son, Mark. He was appointed secretary-general of the SEATO [South-East Asian
Treaty Organisation] Council of Foreign Ministers, held in Canberra in January
1957. Cutler’s next diplomatic posting was as Australia's high commissioner to
Pakistan. In 1961 he became Australia's Consul-General in New York, and in 1965
became ambassador to the Netherlands but returned early to take up the
Governorship of New South Wales. He was then knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Cutler
retired from the governorship in 1981, during his career he had been created a
Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, a Knight Commander of the Royal
Victorian Order and a Knight in the Order of Australia as well as being the
recipient of many honorary degrees and holding positions on numerous boards.
His wife died in November 1990 and he remarried in April 1993. Cutler was
regarded with affection by many Australians and in 2000 he was honoured as one
of three Australian living Victoria Cross winners to be commemorated on a stamp
and coin issue. He died in February 2002.[272]

Died: 21
February 2002, Rose Bay, New South Wales [electorate of Wentworth].[273]

Place of
burial or cremation: South Head Cemetery, Vaucluse, New South Wales [electorate
of Wentworth].[274]

Alfred John Shout

Born: 7
August 1881, Wellington, New Zealand.[275]
Life before the war:

Son of London-born John Shout,
cook, and his Irish wife Agnes, née McGovern. In 1900 he joined the New Zealand
contingent to the South African War, serving as a sergeant in the Border Horse;
he was wounded at least once. In 1903 Shout became a sergeant in the Cape Field
Artillery. With his wife and daughter Shout moved to Australia in 1905, settled
at Darlington, Sydney, and worked as a carpenter and joiner. He joined the 29th
Infantry Regiment (militia) in 1907 and obtained his commission on 16 June
1914. He was well-known in rifle-shooting circles.[276] Previous military service:
Served as a Lieutenant for ten years in the Australian Rifle Regiment.[277]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Darlington, New South Wales [electorate of
Sydney].[278]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 August 1915, Gallipoli, Turkey.[280]

For most conspicuous bravery at
Lone Pine trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the morning of the 9th
August, 1915, with a very small party, Captain Shout charged down trenches
strongly occupied by the enemy, and personally threw four bombs among them,
killing eight and routing the remainder. In the afternoon of the same day, from
the position gained in the morning he captured a further length of trench under
similar conditions, and continued personally to bomb the enemy at close range
under very heavy fire, until he was severely wounded, losing his right hand and
left eye. This most gallant officer has since succumbed to his injuries.[281]

For his wife Rose Alice, Shout’s
death was made the more traumatic by army clerical errors. She was first
informed he had died, then that he was wounded and returning to Australia,
then, finally, that he had died of wounds. In August 1916 the Returned
Soldiers’ Association launched a fund-raising appeal to purchase a home for her
and her 11-year-old daughter; housing assistance was also offered by the New
South Wales government. In November 1915 a memorial plaque commemorating Shout
was unveiled at Darlington Town Hall by the governor-general, Sir Ronald Munro
Ferguson. It is now displayed at Victoria Barracks Museum, Paddington.[284]

Place of
burial or cremation: At sea. Commemorated at the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli,
Turkey.[285]

Rayene Stewart Simpson

Born: 16
February 1926, Redfern, New South Wales [electorate of Sydney].[286]

Life before
the war:

Third child of New South
Wales-born parents Robert William Simpson, labourer, and his wife Olga Maude,
née Montgomery. Olga deserted her husband and children about 1931. Ray was
separated from his siblings and placed in the Church of England Home for Boys,
Carlingford. Educated at a local school and at Dumaresq Island Public School, Taree,
he worked as a labourer. On 15 March 1944 Simpson enlisted in the Australian
Imperial Force. He served on Morotai, and at Tarakan, Borneo, and Rabaul, New
Guinea, and was demobilized on 20 January 1947 in Sydney. After taking various
jobs, he joined the Australian Regular Army in January 1951. Five months later
he was sent to Korea as reinforcement for the 3rd Battalion, Royal
Australian Regiment. On 16 January 1953 at Kure, Japan, he married Shoko Sakai,
a divorcee. Next month he was promoted temporary sergeant. Returning to
Australia in April 1954, he served with the 2nd Battalion, RAR, in
Malaya (1955–57), then with the 1st Special Air Service Company,
near Perth. In July 1962, promoted warrant officer, class two, he flew to
Saigon for duty with the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam.[287]

Place of
residence prior to enlistment: Middle Head, New South Wales [electorate of
Warringah].[288]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: Kontum Province, Vietnam.[290]

On 6th May 1969, Warrant Officer
Simpson was serving as Commander of 232nd Mobile Strike Force of 5th Special
Forces Group on a search and clear operation in Kontum Province, near the
Laotian border. When one of his platoons became heavily engaged with the enemy,
he led the remainder of his company to its assistance. As the company moved
forward, an Australian Warrant Officer commanding one of the platoons was
seriously wounded and the assault began to falter. Warrant Officer Simpson, at
great personal risk carried the Warrant Officer to safety. He then returned to
his company where, with complete disregard for his safety, he crawled forward
to within ten metres of the enemy and threw grenades into their positions.

On 11 May 1969, in the same
operation, Warrant Officer Simpson’s Battalion Commander was killed and an
Australian Warrant Officer and several others wounded. Warrant Officer Simpson
quickly organised two platoons and led them to the position of the contact.
Warrant Officer Simpson came under heavy fire. Disregarding his own safety, he
moved forward in the face of accurate enemy machine gun fire, in order to cover
the initial evacuation of casualties. At the risk of almost certain death he
made several attempts to move further forward towards his Battalion Commander’s
body but on each occasion he was stopped by heavy fire. Realising the position
was becoming untenable, Warrant Officer Simpson alone and still under enemy
fire covered the withdrawal until the wounded were removed from the immediate
vicinity. Warrant Officer Simpson’s repeated acts of personal bravery in this
operation were an inspiration to all Vietnamese, United States and Australian
soldiers who served with him. His conspicuous gallantry was in the highest
tradition of the Australian Army.[291]

Simpson’s
character was complex. At times he was diffident in company, at others direct
and blunt. He was tough, fit and dependable, but
also rude, mischievous and exasperating. A proud, moral and compassionate man
who was devoted to his wife, he was completely free of pretension and had
simple material needs. He was well read in tactics and military history, as
indicated by his infantry skills. His colourful language was legendary. ‘Simmo’
was discharged from the army on 4 May 1970. He obtained an administrative post
in the Australian Embassy, Tokyo.[293]

Percy Valentine Storkey

Son of English-born Samuel James
Storkey, printer, and his wife Sarah Edith, née Dean, from Auckland. Educated
at Napier Boys’ Grammar School and Victoria College, Wellington, he reached
Sydney in 1911 where he worked as a clerk for the Orient Steamship Co. and then
for the Teachers’ College, Blackfriars. In 1912 he joined the administrative
staff of the University of Sydney and next year enrolled as a law student. Having
had five years’ service with the Wellington Infantry, he enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force as a private on 10 May 1915 and was commissioned
second lieutenant in September. A ‘well-knit figure with dark hair and eyes ... a
laughing face and dare-devil, happy-go-lucky ways’, he embarked for England in
December with reinforcements for the 19th Battalion.[297] Previous military service:
Served for five years in the Wellington Infantry Regiment; two months with
Field Battery; five years with the Wellington Infantry Regiment, Territorial
Force.[298]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: University of Sydney, New South Wales
[electorate of Sydney].[299]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 7 April 1918—Bois de Hangard, France.[301]

For most conspicuous bravery,
leadership, and devotion to duty when in charge of a platoon in attack. On
emerging from the wood, the enemy trench line was encountered, and Lt. Storkey
found himself with six men. While continuing his move forward, a large
party—about 80 to 100 strong—armed with several machine guns, was noticed to be
holding up the advance of the troops on the right. Lt. Storkey immediately decided
to attack this party from the flank and rear, and, while moving forward in the
attack was joined by Lt. Lipscomb and four men. Under the leadership of Lt.
Storkey, this small party of two officers and ten other ranks charged the enemy
position with fixed bayonets, driving the enemy out, killing and wounding about
thirty, and capturing three officers and fifty men, also one machine gun. The
splendid courage shown by this officer in quickly deciding his course of
action, and his skilful method of attacking against such great odds, removed a
dangerous obstacle to the advance of the troops on the right, and inspired the
remainder of our small party with the utmost confidence when advancing to the
objective line.[302]

Resuming his studies at the
university, he graduated LLB in 1921 (while holding an appointment as associate
to Justice Sir Charles Wade). Admitted to the Bar on 8 June, Storkey practised
in common law before being appointed to the New South Wales Department of
Justice as crown prosecutor for the south-western circuit. He held this post
for eighteen years. On 15 April 1922 he married an English-born divorcee Minnie
Mary Gordon, née Burnett, at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Sydney; they
made their home at Vaucluse. At the Bar Storkey was ‘practical and realistic’,
his outlook being tempered by humour and compassion. In May 1939 he became
district court judge and chairman of quarter sessions in the northern district
of New South Wales. There he became an identity, making many friends and being
recognized for his quick assessment of character and for his sound common
sense. He was ‘good looking, with dark hair and a shortish, well-built figure,
always well dressed’. In 1955 he retired and went to England with his wife to
live at Teddington, Middlesex, where he died without issue on 3 October 1969.
His wife survived him. Storkey bequeathed his Victoria Cross to his old school
at Napier. His portrait by Max Meldrum hangs in the Archives Building,
Wellington.[304]

Place of
burial or cremation: Cremated at South-West Middlesex Crematorium, Hanworth,
United Kingdom.[306]

George Julian Howell

Born: 19
November 1893, Enfield, New South Wales [electorate of Watson].[307]

Life before
the war:

Fourth son of Francis John Howell,
a carpenter from Brighton, England, and his Sydney-born wife Martha, née
Sweeny. He was educated at Croydon Park and Burwood public schools, served an
apprenticeship in bricklaying and was working as a builder when he enlisted as
a private in the Australian Imperial Force on 3 June 1915.[308]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Enfield, New South Wales [electorate of
Watson].[309]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 6 May 1917—Bullecourt, France.[311]

For most conspicuous bravery. Seeing
a party of the enemy were likely to outflank his battalion, Cpl. Howell, on his
own initiative, single handed and exposed to heavy bomb and rifle fire, climbed
on to the top of the parapet, and proceeded to bomb the enemy, pressing them
back along the trench. Having exhausted his stock of bombs, he continued to
attack the enemy with his bayonet. He was then severely wounded. The prompt
action and gallant conduct of this NCO in the face of superior numbers was
witnessed by the whole battalion, and greatly inspired them in the subsequent
counter attack.[312]

‘Snowy’ Howell came from a
fighting family. His father and two brothers, one of whom was killed in action,
served in France with the AIF. On 1 March 1919 he married a nurse, Sadie
Lillian Yates, at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Sydney. They settled at
Coogee and Howell worked on the advertising staffs of Smith’s Newspapers Ltd
and later the Bulletin Newspaper Co. Pty Ltd. By 1933 he was New South Wales
representative for the Standard, Brisbane, and the Queensland Worker.
In World War II he served with the 2nd AIF as a staff sergeant with Eastern
Command, New South Wales, but found this work ‘too unexciting’ so in August
1944 joined the United States Army Sea Transport Service and took part in the
landing at Leyte during the invasion of the Philippines. In December 1953 he
retired to Perth to join his married daughter and later lived at Gunyidi,
Western Australia. Survived by one daughter, he died on 23 December 1964 in the
Repatriation General Hospital, Hollywood, and was cremated with military
honours after an Anglican service.[314]

Died: 23
December 1964, Nedlands, Western Australia [electorate of Curtin].

Place of
burial or cremation: Karrakatta Crematorium, Karrakatta, Western Australia
[electorate of Curtin].[315]

Hughie Idwal Edwards

Born: 1
August 1914, Fremantle, Western Australia [electorate of Fremantle].[316]

Life before
the war:

Third of five surviving children
of Welsh-born parents Hugh Edwards, farrier, and his wife Jane Ann, née
Watkins. Called Idwal by his family, he was to be known as Eddie in the Royal
Air Force and Hughie to his Australian aircrews. He attended White Gum Valley
State School and Fremantle Boys’ School, which he had to leave, reluctantly,
after gaining his Junior certificate because the family finances could no
longer support him. After working in a shipping agent’s office, a racing stable
and a factory, Edwards enlisted in the Permanent Military Forces in March 1934
and served with the 6th Heavy Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, which manned
the defences of Fremantle. Six ft 1½ ins (187 cm) tall and about 12 stone (76
kg) in weight, he played Australian Rules football for South Fremantle and
cricket for the Fremantle garrison team. His stay in the army was brief as,
much to his surprise, he was accepted as a cadet in the Royal Australian Air
Force on 15 July 1935 and sent to No.1 Flying Training School, Point Cook,
Victoria. He was not a natural pilot but on graduation was rated as `above
average’.

The Royal Air Force was seeking
recently graduated officers such as Edwards; he and six others arrived in
England and were granted short-service commissions on 21 August 1936. Edwards
loved the club-like atmosphere of the pre-war RAF. He soon became proficient on
the new Blenheim bombers and was promoted to flying officer in May 1938, but in
August he flew into a cumulo-nimbus cloud and his aircraft iced up and went
into an uncontrollable spin. After baling out his crew, he managed to escape at
low altitude but his parachute caught on the radio aerial and he ‘rode’ the
aircraft to the ground. He was critically injured and spent much of the following
two years recovering, afraid that he would be unable to take part in World War
II, which had broken out in September 1939. By sheer determination and constant
pressure on the medical authorities, in April 1940 Edwards finally gained
permission to resume flying.[317]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Fremantle, Western Australia [electorate of
Fremantle].[318]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 4 July 1941—Bremen, Germany.[320]

Wing Commander Edwards, although handicapped
by a physical disability resulting from a flying accident, has repeatedly
displayed gallantry of the highest order in pressing home bombing attacks from
very low heights against strongly defended objectives. On 4th July, 1941 he led
an important attack on the Port of Bremen, one of the most heavily defended
towns in Germany. This attack had to be made in daylight and there were no
clouds to afford concealment. During the approach to the German coast several
enemy ships were sighted and Wing Commander - Edwards knew that his aircraft
would be reported and that the defences would be in a state of readiness.
Undaunted by this misfortune he brought his formation 50 miles overland to the
target, flying at a height of little more than 50 feet, passing under
high-tension cables, carrying away telegraph wires and finally passing through
a formidable balloon barrage. On reaching Bremen he was met with a hail of
fire, all his aircraft being hit and four of them being destroyed. Nevertheless
he made a most successful attack, and then with the greatest skill and coolness
withdrew the surviving aircraft without further loss. Throughout the execution
of this operation which he had planned
personally with full knowledge of the risks entailed, Wing Commander Edwards
displayed the highest possible standard of gallantry and determination.[321]

Edwards was sent to Ceylon (Sri
Lanka) as group captain, bomber operations, in December 1944 and as senior air
staff officer at Lord Louis Mountbatten’s headquarters, South-East Asia
Command, in January 1945. He was engaged first in supporting the 14th Army in
Burma and then, after being posted to Malaya and to Batavia (Jakarta), in the
rescue of prisoners of war and Dutch civilians from the troubled Netherlands
East Indies. Having been mentioned in despatches, he was appointed OBE (1947). Returning
to England in May 1947, Edwards attended the RAF Staff College, Bracknell,
Berkshire. He spent the following years flying jet aircraft and instructing. In
1956 he was posted to command the large RAF station at Habbaniyah, Iraq, which
was besieged during a military coup in 1958. He acquitted himself well in a
tense situation and withdrew the force without casualties. In October that year
he was made commandant of the Central Fighter Establishment, West Raynham,
Norfolk, as an acting air commodore (substantive 1 July 1959). He was appointed
CB in 1959 and an aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II next year. In 1961 he
attended the Imperial Defence College, London. Director of organisation
(establishments) at the Air Ministry from January 1962, he retired from the RAF
on 30 September 1963.

Edwards took up a post in Sydney
as resident director of a large mining firm, Australian Selection (Pty) Ltd.
His wife died in 1966. At the registrar-general’s office on 11 September 1972
he married Dorothy Carew Berrick, née Nott, a divorcee. On 7 January 1974 he
was sworn in as governor of Western Australia. He was appointed a knight of
grace of the Order of St John in May and KCMG in August. Impeded by chronic ill
health, Sir Hughie resigned on 2 April 1975 and returned to Sydney. Survived by
his wife, and by the son and daughter of his first marriage, he died suddenly
of subdural haematoma after a fall on 5 August 1982 at Darling Point and was
cremated. The most highly decorated Australian of World War II, he had been
respected by all with whom he came in contact and revered by those with whom he
served.[323]

Died: 5
August 1982, Darling Point, New South Wales [electorate of Wentworth].[324]

Place of
burial or cremation: Karrakatta Cemetery, Karrakatta, Western Australia [electorate
of Curtin].[325]

Leonard Maurice Keysor (Keyzor)

Son of Benjamin Keysor, a Jewish
clock importer. The name was sometimes spelt Keyzor. After education at
Tonnleigh Castle, Ramsgate, Keysor spent ten years in Canada. He migrated to
Sydney, where he found employment as a clerk, about three months before the
outbreak of World War I. On 18 August 1914 he enlisted in the 1st Battalion,
Australian Imperial Force, and embarked for Egypt on 18 October.[327]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Darling Point, New South Wales [electorate of
Wentworth].[328]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 7 August 1915—Gallipoli, Turkey.[330]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty at Lone Pine trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula. On 7th
August, 1915, he was in a trench which was being heavily bombed by the enemy.
He picked up two live bombs and threw them back at the enemy at great risk to
his own life, and continued throwing bombs, although himself wounded, thereby
saving a portion of the trench which it was most important to hold. On 8th
August, at the same place, Private Keysor successfully bombed the enemy out of
a position, from which a temporary mastery over his own trench had been
obtained, and was again wounded. Although marked for hospital, he declined to
leave, and volunteered to throw bombs for another company which had lost its
bomb throwers. He continued to bomb the enemy till the situation was relieved.[331]

In October 1918 Keysor, an
uncompromising advocate of conscription, returned to Australia with other
veterans and assisted in the recruiting campaign. Discharged from the army as
medically unfit on 12 December, he resumed clerical work but in 1920 he entered
business in London. There, on 8 July at the Hill Street Synagogue, he married
Gladys Benjamin. Keysor was persuaded to re-enact his bomb-throwing exploits in
a film, For Valour, in 1927, but he was essentially a shy man who
shunned publicity. White-haired and deaf when interviewed in the 1940s, he
described himself as 'a common-or-garden clock importer' and remarked that 'the
war was the only adventure I ever had'. Keysor was rejected for military
service in 1939 on medical grounds. He died in London of cancer on 12 October
1951, survived by his wife and daughter, and was cremated after a memorial
service at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, St John's Wood. His Victoria Cross is
held at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.[333]

William Dunstan

Fourth child and third son of
William John Dunstan, bootmaker, and his wife Henrietta, née Mitchell. At
Golden Point State School he was a very bright pupil. He left school at 15 to
join the clerical staff of Snows, drapers at Ballarat. He served under the
compulsory training scheme as a cadet gaining the cadet rank of captain,
Australian Military Forces, and in July 1914 was commissioned lieutenant in the
militia with the 70th Infantry (Ballarat Regiment).[337] Previous military service:
Served three years in the Senior Cadets; one year in the 70th Infantry, Citizen
Military Forces.[338]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Ballarat East, Victoria [electorate of
Ballarat].[339]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 August 1915—Gallipoli, Turkey.[341]

For most conspicuous bravery at
Lone Pine Trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula, on the 9th August, 1915. In the
early morning the enemy made a determined counter attack on the centre of the
newly captured trench held by Lieutenant Tubb, Corporals Burton and Dunstan,
and a few men. They advanced up a sap and blew in a sandbag barricade, leaving
only one foot of it standing; but Lieutenant Tubb, with the two corporals,
repulsed the enemy and rebuilt the barricade. Supported by strong bombing
parties, the enemy twice again succeeded in blowing in the barricade; but on
each occasion they were repulsed, and the barricade rebuilt, although
Lieutenant Tubb was wounded in the head and arm, and Corporal Burton was killed
by a bomb while most gallantly building up the parapet under a hail of bombs.[342]

He was invalided to Australia and
discharged on 1 February 1916 having been twice mentioned in dispatches. He
then rejoined the Citizen Forces, serving in the rank of lieutenant as area
officer, Ballarat, and acting brigade major, 18th Infantry Brigade. His army
career concluded when he transferred to the 6th Infantry Battalion in Melbourne
in 1921, the unattached list in 1923 and the reserve of officers in 1928,
retiring as lieutenant. On 10 June 1916 he was presented with the VC by the
governor-general on the steps of Parliament House, Melbourne. This was the
occasion for an outburst of exceptional public fervour. ‘A reserved man disliking
fuss’, Dunstan found it a great ordeal. On 9 November 1918 he married a
Ballarat girl, Marjorie Lillian Stewart Carnell, at St. Paul’s Church of
England, Ballarat East. Two sons and a daughter, all of whom served in World
War II, were born of this marriage. Dunstan moved to Melbourne to take a
position in the Repatriation Department and in 1921 joined the staff of the
Herald and Weekly Times Ltd as an accountant under (Sir) Keith Murdoch. He
gradually took over the administration of the Herald group as chief
accountant, company secretary, and general manager from 1934.

He was a considerate staff
manager, conscientious and upright, with a gift for readily making friends in
all walks of life. He was allowed a great deal of freedom in the administration
of the Herald and was highly regarded in business, judicial and
parliamentary circles. He had a particular interest in Australian Newsprint
Mills Ltd, the consortium which established Australia’s first plant to make
newsprint from hardwood at New Norfolk, Tasmania, and was well known to
businessmen in England, the United States of America and Canada for his work in
the industry. In 1953 the effect of his war wounds forced his resignation as
general manager and he then became a director of the Herald and several
other companies. He was a member of the Naval and Military, Australian,
Athenaeum, the Royal Melbourne and Metropolitan golf, and the main racing
clubs. Survived by his wife and children, Dunstan died suddenly of coronary
vascular disease on 2 March 1957 and was cremated after a funeral service at
Christ Church, South Yarra, attended by over 800 people including seven VC
winners.[344]

Rupert Vance Moon

Fourth child of English-born
parents Arthur Moon,
accountant and later bank inspector, and his wife Helen, née Dunning. Rupert was educated to junior public certificate level at
Kyneton Grammar School before becoming a bank clerk at 16 with the National
Bank of Australasia Ltd.[348]
Previous military service: Served in the 13th Australian Light Horse and
in the 8th Infantry, Citizen Military Forces.[349]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Melbourne CBD, Victoria [electorate of
Melbourne].[350]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 12 May 1917—Bullecourt, France.[352]

For most conspicuous bravery
during an attack on an enemy strong point. His own immediate objective was a
position in advance of the hostile trench itself, after the capture of which it
was intended that his men should co-operate in a further assault on a strong
point further in rear. Although wounded in the initial advance, he reached his
first objective. Leading his men against the trench itself, he was again badly
wounded and incapacitated for the moment. He nevertheless inspired and
encouraged his men and captured the trench. Lt. Moon continued to lead his much
diminished command in the general attack with the utmost valour, being again
wounded, and the attack was successfully pressed home. During the consolidation
of this position, this officer was again badly wounded, and it was only after
this fourth and severe wound through the face that he consented to retire from
the fight. His bravery was magnificent and was largely instrumental in the successful
issue against superior numbers, the safeguarding of the flank in attack, and
the capture of many prisoners and machine guns.[353]

After the war he had various jobs,
including managing a rubber plantation in Malaya, and working as a
jackaroo/bookkeeper near Corowa, NSW, before returning first to the bank and
then an accountancy firm [Dennys Lascelles in Geelong] for the rest of his
working career.[355]
Also served in World War II ... Enlisted 5 March 1941, Geelong, Victoria;
discharged, Captain, 6th Victorian Battalion, 1 November 1945.[356]

Bruce Steel Kingsbury

Second child of English-born
parents Philip Blencowe Kingsbury, estate agent, and his wife Florence Annie,
née Steel. Bruce was educated at Windsor State School and (on a scholarship) at
Melbourne Technical College. At the outset of his career he preferred life in
the bush and left the city for a job as caretaker on a farm at Boundary Bend by
the Murray River. He and his boyhood friend Alan Avery later worked on sheep
stations in New South Wales. Kingsbury returned to Melbourne, entered his
father’s real-estate business at Northcote and played in the Jika Cricket
Association.[360]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: West Preston, Victoria [electorate of Batman].[361]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 29 August 1942—Isurava, Papua New Guinea.[363]

In New Guinea, the Battalion to
which Private Kingsbury belonged had been holding a position in the Isurava
area for two days against continuous and fierce enemy attacks. On the 29th
August, 1942, the enemy attacked in such force that they succeeded in breaking
through the Battalion's right flank, creating a serious threat both to the rest
of the Battalion and to its Headquarters. To avoid the situation becoming more
desperate, it was essential to regain immediately the lost ground on the right
flank. Private Kingsbury, who was one of the few survivors of a Platoon which
had been over-run and severely cut about by the enemy, immediately volunteered
to join a different platoon which had been ordered to counter-attack. He rushed
forward firing his Bren Gun from the hip through terrific machine-gun fire and
succeeded in clearing a path through the enemy. Continuing to sweep the enemy
positions with his fire and inflicting an extremely high number of casualties
on them, Private Kingsbury was then seen to fall to the ground shot dead, by
the bullet from a sniper hiding in the wood. Private Kingsbury displayed a
complete disregard for his own safety. His initiative and superb courage made
possible the recapture of the position which undoubtedly saved Battalion
Headquarters, as well as causing heavy casualties amongst the enemy. His
coolness, determination and devotion to duty in the face of great odds was an
inspiration to his comrades.[364]

Alexander Stewart Burton

Son of Alfred Edward Burton,
grocer, and his wife Isabella, née Briggs, both Victorian-born. The family
moved to Euroa and, after attending the state school, Burton followed his
father into the firm of A. Miller & Co., working in the ironmongery
department. He was a chorister in the Euroa Presbyterian Church, a member of
the town band, and was active in sport. In 1911 he began his period of
compulsory military service.[369]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Euroa, Victoria [electorate of Murray].[370]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 August 1915—Gallipoli, Turkey.[372]

For most conspicuous bravery at
Lone Pine trenches in the Gallipoli Peninsula on the 9th August, 1915.In the
early morning the enemy made a determined counter-attack on the centre of the
newly captured trench held by Lieutenant Tubb, Corporals Burton and Dunstan and
a few men. They advanced up a sap and blew in a sandbag barricade, leaving only
one foot of it standing, but Lieutenant Tubb with the two corporals repulsed
the enemy and rebuilt the barricade. Supported by strong bombing parties the1
enemy twice again succeeded in blowing in the barricade, but on each occasion
they were repulsed and the barricade rebuilt, although Lieutenant Tubb was
wounded in the head and arm and Corporal Burton was killed by a bomb while most
gallantly building up the parapet under a hail of bombs.[373]

George Morby (Mawby) Ingram

Son of George Ronald Ingram,
farmer, and his wife Charlotte, née Hubbard, both Victorian-born. Educated at Seville
State School, he was apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner. He later went to
Caulfield, Melbourne, and worked as a carpenter until 1914. On 19 January 1910,
at East Prahran, he had married Jane Francis Nichols with Congregational forms.
There were no children of the marriage which was dissolved in 1926 with Ingram
as petitioner, the grounds being desertion by his wife. In 1905–14 Ingram was a
member of the militia forces and was attached to the Australian Garrison
Artillery.[378]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Carnegie, Victoria [electorate of Higgins].[379]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 5 October 1918—Montbrehain, France.[381]

For most conspicuous bravery and
initiative during the attack on Montbrehain, east of Peronne, on 5th October,
1918. When early in the advance his platoon was held up by a strong point, Lt.
Ingram, without hesitation, dashed out and rushed the post at the head of his
men, capturing nine machine guns and killing 42 enemy after stubborn
resistance. Later, when the company had suffered severe casualties from enemy
posts, and many leaders had fallen, he at once took control of the situation,
rallied his men under intense fire, and led them forward. He himself rushed the
first post, shot six of the enemy, and captured a machine gun, thus overcoming
serious resistance. On two subsequent occasions he again displayed great dash
and resource in the capture of enemy posts, inflicting many casualties and
taking 62 prisoners. Throughout the whole day he showed the most inspiring example
of courage and leadership, and freely exposed himself regardless of danger.[382]

In April 1919 he returned to
Melbourne and on his discharge became general foreman with E. A. and Frank
Watts Pty Ltd, building contractors. He married a widow, Lillian Wakeling, née
Hart, on 10 February 1927 at the Methodist parsonage, Malvern, giving his
occupation as farmer. After the completion of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance,
he became a guard there. During World War II he served with the Royal
Australian Engineers and attained the rank of captain. Ingram’s second wife
died in May 1951 and on 24 December he married another widow, Myrtle Lydia
Thomas, née Cornell, at Brunswick Methodist Church. Survived by his wife and
their son, and a son from his second marriage, he died of coronary vascular
disease at his home at Hastings on 30 June 1961 and was buried in Frankston
cemetery.[384]

Walter Peeler

Eighth surviving child of William
Peeler, a farmer and miner from Tasmania, and his English-born wife Mary Ellen,
née Scott. His education is not recorded but he worked on his parents’ orchard
at Barker’s Creek, then at Thompson’s Foundry, Castlemaine, and in the
Leongatha district. He married Emma Hewitt on 10 July 1907 at the
Congregational parsonage, Castlemaine.[388]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Leongatha, Victoria [electorate of McMillan].[389]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 20 September 1917—Broondseinde, Belgium.[391]

For most conspicuous bravery when,
with a Lewis gun, accompanying the first wave of the assault, he encountered an
enemy party sniping the advancing troops from a shell-hole. L./Cpl. Peeler
immediately rushed the position, and accounted for nine of the enemy, and
cleared the way for the advance. On two subsequent occasions, he performed
similar acts of valour, and each time accounted for a number of the enemy. During
operations, he was directed to a position from which an enemy machine gun was
being fired on our troops. He located and killed the gunner, and the remainder
of the enemy party ran into a dugout close by. From this shelter they were
dislodged by a bomb, and ten of the enemy ran out. These he disposed of. This non-commissioned
officer actually accounted for over thirty of the enemy. He displayed an
absolute fearlessness in making his way ahead of the first wave of the assault,
and the fine example which he set insured the success of the attack against
most determined opposition.[392]

Peeler arrived back in Australia on 11 October and was
discharged on 10 December. He worked with the Victorian Department of Lands for
six years and then took up an orchard, but returned to Melbourne to work on the
staff of the Sunshine Harvester Works. He was appointed custodian of Victoria's
Shrine of Remembrance in 1934.

During World War II Peeler, understating his age by fourteen
years, enlisted in the 2nd A.I.F. in 1940 and saw service in the Syrian
campaign as company quartermaster sergeant of 'D' Company, 2/2nd Pioneer
Battalion. In June 1941 he led a patrol to recover four Australian wounded. His
battalion was part of a small Australian force hastily landed in Java in
February 1942 to assist the Dutch against the rapid Japanese advance; after the
island's surrender to the Japanese he survived a long period on the Burma
Railway. He was one of only three World War I V.C. winners then serving
overseas, the others being Walter Brown and Arthur Blackburn. He returned to Australia in
October 1945 to learn that his son Donald had been killed on Bougainville in
December 1944 while serving with the 15th Battalion.

Wally Peeler resumed duty as custodian of the Shrine of
Remembrance and was an early member of the Victorian Corps of Commissionaires.
He was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1961 and retired in 1964. From the
early 1920s he lived with Kathleen Emma Peeler and they had four children. Survived
by two of his children from his first marriage and by Kathleen (d.1969) and
three of their children, he died at South Caulfield on 23 May 1968 and was
buried in Brighton cemetery. His medals are on display in the Hall of Valour at
the Australian War Memorial.[394]

William John Symons (later Penn-Symons)

Son of William Samson Symons
(d.1904), miner, and his wife Mary Emma, née Manning. Educated at Eaglehawk
State School, in 1906 he moved with his family to Brunswick, Melbourne, and
worked as a commercial traveller. He served for eight years in the militia (5th
and 60th battalions) before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 17
August 1914.[398]
Previous military service: Served for five years in the 5th Battalion, Citizen
Military Forces, and three years in the 60th Battalion, CMF.[399]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Brunswick East, Victoria [electorate of
Willis].[400]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 8–9 August 1915—Gallipoli, Turkey.[402]

For most conspicuous bravery on
the night of 8th–9th August, 1915, at Lone Pine trenches, in the Gallipoli
Peninsula. He was in command of the right section of the newly captured
trenches held by his battalion, and repelled several counter attacks with great
coolness. At about 5 a.m. on 9th August a series of determined
attacks were made by the enemy on the isolated sap, and six officers were in
succession killed or severely wounded, a portion of the sap being lost.
Lieutenant Symons then led a charge and retook the lost sap, shooting two Turks
with his revolver. The sap was under hostile fire from three sides, and
Lieutenant Symons withdrew some fifteen yards to a spot where some overhead
cover could be obtained, and, in the face of heavy fire, built up a sand
barricade. The enemy succeeded in setting fire to the fascines and woodwork of
the head cover, but Lieutenant Symons extinguished the fire and rebuilt the
barricade. His coolness and determination finally compelled the enemy to
discontinue their attacks.[403]

In 1918 he adopted the surname of
Penn Symons. With his family he later settled at Kenton, Hampshire, where he
became a director of several engineering and construction companies. He served
as a lieutenant-colonel in the home guard in 1941–44. Survived by his wife and
three daughters, he died of a brain tumour on 24 June 1948 in London. His VC
and medals are in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.[405]

Robert Cuthbert Grieve

Son of John Grieve, clerk and
later warehouseman, and his wife Annie Deas, née Brown, both Victorian-born.
Educated at Caulfield Grammar School and Wesley College, he became an
interstate commercial traveller in the softgoods trade.[409]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Brighton, Victoria [electorate of Goldstein].[410]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 7 June 1917— Messines, Belgium.[412]

For most conspicuous bravery. During
an attack on the enemy’s position, in the face of heavy artillery and machine
gun fire and after all his officers had been wounded and his company had
suffered very heavy casualties, Capt. Grieve located two hostile machine guns
which were holding up his advance. He then, single handed, under continuous
fire from these two machine guns, succeeded in bombing and killing the two
crews, re-organised the remnants of his company, and gained his original
objective. Cpt. Grieve, by his utter disregard of danger, and his coolness in
mastering a very difficult position, set a splendid example, and when he
finally fell wounded the position had been secured and the few remaining enemy
were in full flight.[413]

He was evacuated to England and
returned to his unit on 29 October but soon afterwards suffered acute trench
nephritis and double pneumonia and was invalided to Australia in May 1918. On 7
August, at Scots Church, Sydney, he married Sister May Isabel Bowman of the
Australian Army Nursing Service who had nursed him during his illness. She died
some years later and there were no children of the marriage. After
demobilization Grieve established the business of Grieve, Gardner & Co.,
softgoods warehousemen, in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, and was managing director
until 4 October 1957 when he died of cardiac failure; he had suffered from nephritis
since 1917. He was buried with military honours in Springvale cemetery. He was
a staunch supporter of Wesley College to which his Victoria Cross was presented
in 1959.[415]

Richard Kelliher

Son of Michael Kelliher, labourer,
and his wife Mary Anne, née Talbot. Dick attended technical college at Tralee
and worked as a mechanic in his brother’s garage. In 1929 he emigrated to
Brisbane with his 15-year-old sister Norah. She later said that, although he
was good natured and ‘not a very big fellow’, he ‘wouldn’t take it if anyone
were nasty’. During the Depression he worked at a variety of jobs: he was
sacristan at St Stephen’s Cathedral before moving to the country where he was
employed as a farmhand. Sickness dogged him, and he contracted typhoid and
meningitis.[419]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: New Farm, Queensland [electorate of Brisbane].[420]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 13 September 1943—Nadzab, Papua New Guinea.[422]

During an attack by this soldier's
platoon on an enemy position at Nadzab, New Guinea, on the morning of 13th
September, 1943, the platoon came under heavy fire from a concealed enemy
machine-gun post approximately 50 yards away. Five of the platoon were killed
and three wounded and it was found impossible to advance without further
losses. In the face of these casualties Private Kelliher suddenly, on his own
initiative, and without orders, dashed towards the post and hurled two grenades
at it, killing some of the enemy but not all. Noting this, he then returned to
his section, seized a Bren gun, again dashed forward to within 30 yards of the
post, and with accurate fire completely silenced it. Returning from his already
gallant action Private Kelliher next requested permission to go forward again
and rescue his wounded section leader. This he successfully accomplished,
though under heavy rifle fire from another position. Private Kelliher, by these
actions, acted as an inspiration to everyone in his platoon, and not only
enabled the advance to continue but also saved his section leader's life. His
most conspicuous bravery and extreme devotion to duty in the face of heavy
enemy fire resulted in the capture of this strong enemy position.[423]

After further spells in hospital
with malaria, he was sent to Brisbane in November and posted to the 11th
Australian Advanced Workshop next month. He took part in his old battalion’s
march through the city on 8 August 1944 and was discharged from the AIF on 20
August 1945. In 1946 he was selected in the Australian contingent for the
victory parade in London. King George VI presented him with his VC; the
Kelliher family from County Kerry attended the investiture. Kelliher returned
to London in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and in 1956 for the
VC centenary celebrations. On each occasion he visited Tralee. At Epworth
Lodge, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, on 30 August 1949 Kelliher had married with
Methodist forms Olive Margaret Hearn, a 19-year-old machinist. They moved to
Melbourne where he worked as a gardener. He died of cerebral thrombosis on 28
January 1963 in the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, and was buried in
Springvale cemetery with Catholic rites and military honors; his wife, son and
two daughters survived him. Olive remarried. In 1966 she sold Kelliher’s VC and
campaign medals to his battalion association which donated them to the
Australian War Memorial, Canberra.[425]

Place of
burial or cremation: Springvale Lawn Cemetery, Springvale, Victoria [electorate
of Bruce].[427]

Lawrence (Laurence) Dominic McCarthy

Born: 21
January 1892, York, Western Australia [electorate of Pearce].[428]

Life before
the war:

Son of Florence McCarthy of Cork,
Ireland, and his wife Anne, née Sherry. His parents died when he was very young
and he was brought up in Clontarf Orphanage, Perth, and educated in Catholic
schools. McCarthy was working as a contractor when he enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force on 16 October 1914.[429] Previous military service:
Served for 2.5 years in the 18th Australian Light Horse.[430]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Mt Helena, Western Australia [electorate of Hasluck].[431]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 23 August 1918—Madame Wood, France.[433]

For most conspicuous bravery,
initiative, and leadership on the morning of the 23 August 1918, in attack near
Madame Wood, east of Vernandovilliers (north of Chaulnes). Although the
objectives of his battalion were attained without serious opposition, the
battalion on the left flank was heavily opposed by well posted machine guns.
Lt. McCarthy, realising the situation, at once engaged the nearest machine gun
post, but still the attacking troops failed to get forward. This officer then
determined to attack the nearest post. Leaving his men to continue the fire
fight, he, with two others, dashed across the open and succeeded in reaching
the block. Although single handed, as he had out distanced his comrades, and
despite serious opposition and obstacles, he captured the gun and continued to
fight his way down the trench, inflicting heavy casualties, and capturing three
more machine guns. At this stage, being some 700 yards from his starting point,
he was joined by one of his men, and together they continued to bomb up the
trench until touch was establishing with an adjoining unit. Lt. McCarthy,
during this most daring advance, single handed killed twenty of the enemy and
captured in addition five machine guns and fifty prisoners. By his gallant and
determined action he saved a critical situation, prevented many casualties, and
was mainly, if not entirely, responsible for the final objective being taken.[434]

On 21 November 1918 McCarthy was
again evacuated, ill, to England. He returned home on 20 December 1919 and his
AIF appointment ended on 6 August 1920. In England, on 25 January 1919, he had
married Florence (Flossie) Minnie Norville, at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
Their only child Lawrence Norville was killed in action on Bougainville in
1945. ‘Mac’ moved from Western Australia to Victoria in 1926 where he joined
the staff of the Sunshine Harvester Works. He remained with the company, mostly
as a traveller in the Mallee, until the Depression forced staff reductions in
1934. From 1935 until his retirement in 1969 he was superintendent of the
Trustees, Executors & Agency Co. Ltd building, Melbourne. He attended the
V.C. centenary celebrations in London in 1956 and was present at the opening of
V.C. Corner at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, in 1964. A most popular,
generous and unassuming man, he took a keen interest in community affairs. Laurie
McCarthy died at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Melbourne, on 25 May 1975
and was cremated with full military honours. He was survived by his wife who
donated his V.C. and medals to the Australian War Memorial, which also holds
his portrait by Charles Wheeler.[436]

Percy Herbert
Cherry

Son of John Gawley Cherry and his
wife Elizabeth, née Russel, both Victorian-born. When he was 7 the family moved
to Tasmania and took up an apple orchard near Cradoc. Percy attended the local
state school until he was 13 and was then privately tutored. He played the
cornet in the Franklin brass band, sang in the Anglican church choir and
belonged to the local cadet corps. He worked with his father and became an
expert apple-packer, winning a championship title in case-making at Launceston
Fruit Show. In 1913 he was commissioned in the 93rd Infantry Regiment.[440] Previous
military service: Served as Lieutenant, 93rd Senior Cadets; still serving at time
of AIF enlistment.[441]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Huon, Tasmania [electorate of Franklin].[442]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 26 March 1917—Lagnicourt, France.[444]

For most conspicuous bravery, determination
and leadership when in command of a company detailed to storm and clear a
village. After all the officers of his company had become casualties, [Captain
Cherry] carried on with care and determination, in the face of fierce
opposition, and cleared the village of the enemy. He sent frequent reports of
progress made, and when held up for some time by an enemy strong point he
organised machine gun and bomb parties and captured the position. His
leadership, coolness, and bravery set a wonderful example to his men. Having
cleared the village, he took charge of the situation and beat off the most
resolute and heavy counter attack made by the enemy. Wounded about 6.30 a.m.,
he refused to leave his post, and there remained, encouraging all to hold out
at all costs, until, about 4.30 p.m., this very gallant officer was killed by
an enemy shell.[445]

Albert Jacka

Fourth child of Nathaniel Jacka, a
Victorian-born labourer, later a farmer and contractor, and his English wife
Elizabeth, née Kettle. The family moved to Wedderburn when Albert was 5. After
elementary schooling, Bert worked as a labourer with his father, then for the
Victorian State Forests Department. He was a shy youth, but excelled at sports,
especially cycling.[450]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Wedderburn, Victoria [electorate of Murray].[451]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 19–20 May 1915—Gallipoli, Turkey.[453]

For most conspicuous bravery on
the night of the 19th–20th May, 1915, at ‘Courtney’s Post’ Gallipoli Peninsula.
Lance-Corporal Jacka, while holding a portion of our trench with four other
men, was heavily attacked. When all except himself were killed or wounded, the
trench was rushed and occupied by seven Turks. Lance Corporal Jacka at once
most gallantly attacked them single handed, and killed the whole party, five by
rifle fire and two with the bayonet.[454]

Unit at time
of action: 14th Battalion, 4th Australian Brigade, New Zealand and Australian
Division, AIF.[455]

Following the evacuation of Gallipoli
and some time in Egypt, Jacka proceeded to the Western Front, where he would receive
further gallantry awards: At Pozieres, on 7 August 1916, the Germans overran a
portion of the line which included Jacka’s dug-out. He charged a large number
of enemy who were rounding up prisoners and a furious close quarter fight
ensued in which he was wounded three times, once through the neck. Inspired by
Jacka, the captured men turned on their captors: many Germans were taken
prisoner and the line was retaken. For his actions Jacka received the Military
Cross. CEW Bean wrote of this day that Jacka’s counter-attack ‘stands as the
most dramatic and effective act of individual audacity in the history of the
AIF’. At Bullecourt, on 8 April 1917, when the 4th Division was preparing to
attack the Hindenburg line, Jacka, then intelligence officer of the 14th, made
a dangerous night reconnaissance of the wire in front of the objective. He got
through the wire in two places, brought back a report, and then went out to lay
tapes on the assault line. As he was doing so, two Germans approached. He
attempted to fire his revolver as they came at him, but nothing happened. Jacka
rushed them, seizing the officer first, and eventually brought both in as
prisoners. The attacking Australian troops then assembled unseen on the tapes
and Jacka’s action undoubtedly saved them from bombardment and heavy fire. For
this he received a bar to the Military Cross. There has been speculation as to
whether Jacka merited two bars to his Victoria Cross. CEW Bean wrote: ‘Everyone
who knows the facts, knows that Jacka earned the Victoria Cross three times’.

On other occasions Jacka exhibited
considerable military skill. At Messines he made a valuable reconnaissance and
led his company in taking 800 metres of territory and capturing a field gun. At
Polygon Wood, just after Jacka had returned from Britain where he was sent to
recover from a wound he had received in July 1917, he was virtually responsible
for controlling the 14th, which had for some time been known as ‘Jacka’s Mob’. At
the end of May 1918 Jacka was badly gassed and a missile passed through his
trachea. He was evacuated to No. 20 Casualty Clearing Station at Vignacourt and
it was thought for a time that he would not recover. When he did he was sent to
Britain for two operations and a long recuperative period.[456]

Life after
the war:

In September 1919 he embarked for
Australia aboard the Euripides. A large crowd, including the
governor-general, greeted the ship when it berthed at Melbourne and a convoy of
eighty-five cars with Jacka at its head drove to the town hall where men from
the 14th Battalion welcomed their famous comrade. He was demobilized in January
1920. Shortly after his return Jacka, RO Roxburgh and EJL Edmonds (both former
members of the 14th Battalion) established the electrical goods importing and
exporting business, Roxburgh, Jacka & Co. Pty Ltd. Jacka contributed £700 of
the firm’s paid up capital. The company’s other directors were John Wren and
his associate ‘Dick’ Lean, while Wren’s brother Arthur held over three-quarters
of the company’s shares. In 1923 the business name was altered to Jacka Edmonds
& Co. when Roxburgh withdrew. On 17 January 1921 at St Mary’s Catholic
Church, St Kilda, Jacka had married Frances Veronica Carey, a typist from his
office. They settled at St Kilda and later adopted a daughter. In September
1929 Jacka was elected to the St Kilda Council and became mayor a year later.
He devoted most of his energies on council to assisting the unemployed. His own
business flourished until 1929 when the Scullin government increased import
tariffs and the company went into voluntary liquidation in September 1930. It
was rumoured that the company’s difficulties stemmed in part from Wren removing
his support after Jacka refused to follow his wishes. Jacka then became a
commercial traveller with the Anglo-Dominion Soap Co. He fell ill, entered
Caulfield Military Hospital on 18 December 1931 and died on 17 January 1932 of
chronic nephritis. Nearly 6000 people filed past his coffin when it lay in
state in Anzac House. The funeral procession, led by over 1000 returned
soldiers flanked by thousands of onlookers, made its way to St Kilda cemetery
where he was buried with full military honours in the Presbyterian section.
Eight Victoria Cross winners were his pallbearers.

At his funeral Bert Jacka was
described as ‘Australia’s greatest front-line soldier’. Few would challenge this
assessment. Bean and the men of the 14th Battalion (‘Jacka’s Mob’) shared the
belief that he had earned three VCs. He might have risen higher in the AIF but
his blunt, straightforward manner frequently annoyed his superiors. ‘He said
what he meant, and meant what he said’, recalls one friend. As an officer he
invariably won respect by his example. It was claimed that he preferred to
punch an offender than to place him on a charge. ‘His methods could not have
been adopted generally in the AIF without disaster’, Bean noted. Nevertheless
Jacka seemed to epitomize the Anzac creed of mateship, bravery, fairness and an
absence of pretentiousness. Many sought to exploit his fame. In 1916 and 1918
he spurned offers from Prime Minister Hughes to return to Australia and assist
with recruiting campaigns. His name was also used by (Sir) Keith Murdoch in the
1916 conscription referendum. His father promptly stated publicly that Bert had
never declared himself in favour of conscription. The anti-conscriptionists made
much of this denial but on balance it seems probable that Jacka did support
conscription. His standing remained so high that a memorial plaque and
sculpture for his grave was paid for by public subscription while £1195 was
raised towards buying his widow a house. His portrait, by GJ Coates, is in the
Australian War Memorial. Two of his brothers had AIF service.[457]

James Ernest Newland

Son of William Newland, labourer
and later railway employee, and his wife Louisa Jane, née Wall, both Victorian born.
No details of his education are known. Newland embarked as a private in the 4th
Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse, for service in the South African War
on 26 March 1903. His unit arrived at Cape Town shortly before the peace treaty
was signed and was soon back in Australia. He served with the Royal Australian
Artillery in Victoria from July 1903 until September 1907 and was a policeman
in Tasmania from March 1909 until August 1910 when he rejoined the regular army
there. He served with the Australian Instructional Corps until enlisting in the
Australian Imperial Force on 17 August 1914 as regimental quartermaster
sergeant, 12th Battalion. On 27 December 1913, at Sheffield, Tasmania, he had
married Florence May Mitchell.[461]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Sheffield, Tasmania [electorate of Lyons].[462]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 8–9 April 1917—Bapaume, France; 15 April 1917—Lagnicourt,
France.[464]

For most conspicuous bravery, and
devotion to duty, in the face of heavy odds, on three separate occasions. On
the first occasion [Captain Newland] organised the attack by his company on a
most important objective, and led personally, under heavy fire, a bombing
attack. He then rallied the company, which had suffered heavy casualties, and
he was one of the first to reach the objective. On the following night his
company, holding the captured position, was heavily counter attacked. By
personal exertion, utter disregard of fire, and judicious use of reserves, he
succeeded in dispersing the enemy and regaining the position. On a subsequent
occasion, when the company on his left was overpowered, and his own company
attacked from the rear, he drove off a combined attack which had developed from
these directions. These attacks were renewed three or four times, and it was
Capt. Newland’s tenacity and disregard for his own safety that encouraged the
men to hold out. The stand made by this officer was of the greatest importance,
and produced far reaching results.[465]

His AIF appointment ended in
Victoria on 2 March 1918. He carried out full-time duty as a captain (Reserve
of Officers) until 31 December 1921 but this service was not recognized until
1927 as continuous employment in the military forces in a permanent capacity. Newland’s
wife died of tuberculosis in 1924 and on 30 April 1925, at St Paul’s Anglican
Church, Bendigo, he married Heather Vivienne Broughton. Newland was promoted
quartermaster and honorary major in 1930 and was awarded the Meritorious
Service Medal in 1935. He retired from the army in 1941 and from April to
September was deputy commissioner of the Northern Territory division of the
Australian Red Cross Society. On 2 January 1942 he joined the inspection staff
at Ammunition Factory, Footscray, Melbourne. Survived by his wife and their
daughter, he died suddenly of heart failure at Caulfield on 19 March 1949 and
was buried in the Methodist section of Brighton cemetery. In 1984 his daughter
presented his VC and medals to the Australian War Memorial.[467]

Place of
burial or cremation: Brighton General Cemetery, Victoria [electorate of Goldstein].[469]

Frederick William
Bell

Born: 3
April 1875, Perth, Western Australia [electorate of Perth].[470]

Life before
the war:

Son of Henry Thomas Bell, clerk,
and his wife Alice Agnes, née Watson. Educated at A. D. Letch’s preparatory
school and at the government school, Perth, he joined the Western Australian
Public Service in November 1894 as a cadet in the Department of Customs where
he later became a cashier.[471]

Place of
residence at time of Enlistment: Queenscliff, Victoria [electorate of
Corangamite].[472]

Description
of Action for which VC awarded: 16 May 1901—Brakpan, South Africa.[474]

At Brakpan on the 16th May, 1901,
when retiring through a heavy fire after holding the right flank, Lieutenant
Bell noticed a man dismounted and returned and took him up behind him. The
horse not being equal to the weight fell with them, Lieutenant Bell then
remained behind and covered the man’s retirement till he was out of danger.[475]

After his discharge in May 1902,
Bell joined the Australian section of the coronation escort for King Edward
VII. He then settled in Perth but returned to England, joined the colonial
service in 1905 and was appointed to British Somaliland as an assistant
district officer in April. Made an assistant political officer later that year
[and] he held the post until 1910. While in Somaliland he took up big-game
hunting and in 1909 narrowly escaped death when he was badly mauled by a lion. He
was assistant resident in Nigeria in 1910–12 and from then until the outbreak
of World War I was an assistant district commissioner in Kenya. In 1914 Bell,
who had been commissioned in the 4th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry in August
1907, served in France with the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. He was mentioned in
dispatches and promoted captain in October 1915. On his return to England he
was made commandant of a rest camp and promoted major; later, in the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, he commanded an embarkation camp at Plymouth. Two of his
three brothers were killed in action with the Australian Imperial Force. After
the war Bell returned to the colonial service as a district commissioner in
Kenya. In May 1922 in London he married a divorcee Mabel Mackenzie Valentini,
née Skinner, and in 1925 went into retirement in England. His wife died in 1944
and on 20 February 1945 he married a widow Brenda Margaret Cracklow, née
Illingworth. He revisited Western Australia in 1947. His wife survived him when
he died at Bristol on 28 April 1954.[477]

Robert Matthew Beatham

Son of John Beatham, papermaker’s foreman, and his wife
Elizabeth, née Allison. While still in his
teens he migrated with his brother Walter to Australia and was working at
Geelong, Victoria, as a labourer when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial
Force on 8 January 1915..[481]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Geelong, Victoria [electorate of Corio].[482]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 August 1918—near Rosieres, France.[484]

For most conspicuous bravery and
self-sacrifice during the attack north of Rosieres, east of Amiens, on 9th
August, 1918. When the advance was held up by heavy machine gun fire, Pte
Beatham dashed forward and assisted by one man, bombed and fought the crews of
four enemy machine guns, killing ten of them and capturing ten others, thus
facilitating the advance and saving many casualties. When the final objective
was reached, although previously wounded, he again dashed forward and bombed a
machine gun, being riddled with bullets and killed in doing so. The valour
displayed by this gallant soldier inspired all ranks in a wonderful manner.[485]

Clifford William King Sadlier

Fourth child of Irish-born Thomas
George Sadlier, salesman and later indent agent, and his wife Mary Ann, née
Roberts, from Adelaide. After attending University High School he accompanied
his family to Perth where they settled at Subiaco. Sadlier
was working as a commercial traveller when he enlisted as a private in the
Australian Imperial Force in May 1915.[490]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Subiaco, Western Australia [electorate of
Curtin].[491]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 24–25 April 1918—Villers-Bretonneux, France.[493]

For conspicuous bravery during a
counter attack by his battalion on strong enemy positions. Lieutenant Sadlier’s
platoon, which was on the left of the battalion, had to advance through a wood
where a strong enemy machine gun post caused casualties and prevented the
platoon from advancing. Although himself wounded, he at once collected his
bombing section, led them against the machine guns, and succeeded in killing
the crews and capturing two of the guns. By this time, Lieutenant Sadlier’s
party were all casualties, and he alone attacked a third enemy machine gun with
his revolver, killing the crew of four and taking the gun. In doing so, he was
again wounded. The very gallant conduct of this officer was the means of
clearing the flank and allowing the battalion to move forward, thereby saving a
most critical situation. His coolness and utter disregard of danger inspired
all.[494]

On 24 October Sadlier was
invalided to Australia and his AIF appointment ended on 4 March 1919. On 23
August 1922, at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Perth, he married Maude Victoria
Moore. Throughout the 1920s he worked as a manufacturer’s agent and in 1929
briefly ran his own indent agency. Next year he unsuccessfully contested the
State seat of Nedlands as a Nationalist. His marriage ended in divorce in 1934
and on 17 July 1936 he married Alice Edith Smart at the Presbyterian manse,
Subiaco. From then until 1949 he was a clerk in the Repatriation Department in
Perth. Invalided out of the public service, he moved to Busselton where
gardening became his chief interest. Survived by his wife, he died there,
childless, on 28 April 1964 and was cremated; for ten years he had suffered
from emphysematic bronchitis.[496]

Died: 28
April 1964, Busselton, Western Australia [electorate of Forrest].[497]

Place of
burial or cremation: Cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium, Karrakatta, Western
Australia [electorate of Curtin].[498]

Albert David (Alby) Lowerson

Sixth child of English-born Henry
Lowerson, engine driver and later farmer, and his Victorian wife Mary Jane, née
McMaster. Alby Lowerson had been dredging for gold at Adelong, New South Wales,
before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in Melbourne on 16 July 1915;
he was allotted to the 5th Reinforcements of the 21st Battalion which embarked
in September.[500]

Place of
residence prior to enlistment: Adelong, New South Wales [electorate of
Eden-Monaro].[501]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1 September 1918—Mont St Quentin, France.[503]

For most conspicuous bravery and
tactical skill on the 1st September, 1918, during the attack on Mt St Quentin,
north of Peronne, when very strong opposition was met with early in the attack,
and every foot of ground was stubbornly contested by the enemy. Regardless of
heavy enemy machine gun fire, Sjt. Lowerson moved about fearlessly directing
his men, encouraging them to still greater effort, and finally led them on to
the objective. On reaching the objective he saw that the left attacking party
was held up by an enemy strong post heavily manned with twelve machine guns.
Under the heaviest sniping and machine gun fire, Sjt. Lowerson rallied seven
men as a storming party, and directing them to attack the flanks of the post,
rushed the strong point, and, by effective bombing, captured it, together with
twelve machine guns and thirty prisoners. Though severely wounded in the right
thigh, he refused to leave the front line until the prisoners had been disposed
of, and the organisation and consolidation of the post had been thoroughly
completed. Throughout a week of operations, his leadership and example had a
continual influence on the men serving under him, whilst his prompt and
effective action at a critical juncture allowed the forward movement to be
carried on without delay, thus ensuring the success of the attack.[504]

He received the Victoria Cross
from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 1 March 1919; a month later he
embarked for Australia and was discharged on 8 July. Between the wars Lowerson
was a dairy and tobacco farmer on a Victorian soldier settlement block. He
named his property, on Merriang estate near Myrtleford, St Quentin. He married
Edith Larkins at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, on 1 February 1930.
Re-enlisting on 5 July 1940, he served as a sergeant in various training units
throughout Australia until discharged in 1944. Survived by his wife and
daughter, he died of leukaemia at Myrtleford on 15 December 1945 and was buried
there after a Methodist service. A memorial headstone was unveiled in 1949 and
local returned servicemen make an annual pilgrimage to the grave. Myrtleford in
1966 named the AD Lowerson Memorial Swimming Pool in his honour.[506]

Leslie Cecil Maygar

Born on 26 May 1871 or 1872 at
Dean Station, Kilmore, Victoria, son of Edwin Willis Maygar, grazier, and his
wife Helen, née Grimshaw, both from Bristol, England. His father’s family were
originally political refugees from Hungary. Leslie was educated at Alexandra
and Kilmore State schools and privately ... He, his father and three brothers
owned Strathearn station, Euroa. A very fine horseman, Maygar enlisted in the
Victorian Mounted Rifles in March 1891.[510]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Euroa, Victoria [electorate of Murray].[511]

Enlistment
Date: March 1891 (Boer War) and 18 August 1914 (First World War).[512]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 23 November 1901—Geelhoutboom, South Africa.[513]

At Geelhoutboom, on the 23rd
November, 1901, Lieutenant Maygar galloped out and ordered the men of a
detached post, which was being outflanked, to retire. The horse of one of them
being shot under him, when the enemy were within 200 yards, Lieutenant Maygar
dismounted and lifted him on to his own horse, which bolted into boggy ground,
causing both of them to dismount. On extricating the horse and finding that it
could not carry both, Lieutenant Maygar again put the man on its back, and told
him to gallop for cover at once, he himself proceeding on foot. All this took
place under a very heavy fire.[514]

Unit at time
of action: 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles, Australian Forces.[515]

Life after
the war:

Resuming work as a grazier at
Euroa, Maygar also served as a lieutenant in the 8th (later 16th) Light Horse,
VMR, and was promoted captain in 1905. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial
Force soon after World War I broke out, on 20 August 1914 was appointed a
captain in the 4th Light Horse Regiment and sailed for Egypt in October. On
Gallipoli, with the dismounted light horse, he was promoted major. On 17
October 1915 he was given temporary command of the 8th LHR, both rank of
lieutenant-colonel and command being confirmed in December. During the
evacuation of Gallipoli Maygar, left in command of forty men, was instructed to
hold the trenches, at all costs, till 2.30 am. He wrote: ‘I had my usual good
luck to be given command of the last party to pull out of the trenches, the
post of honour for the 3rd L.H. Brigade’.

Maygar led his regiment throughout
its service in Sinai and Palestine until his death and was a much-admired
leader. During the 2nd battle of Gaza, on 19 April 1917, the 8th was in a most
exposed sector and suffering heavy casualties. Maygar rode about the
battlefield all day on his grey charger and ‘in every crisis stirred the spirit
of his regiment by his example in the firing line’. Sir Henry Gullett records
that Maygar was ‘always very bold in his personal leadership’ and writes of 19
April: ‘It was a day when true leaders recognised that their men needed
inspiration, and Maygar gave it in the finest manner’. He was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order in June 1917, and was thrice mentioned in
dispatches in 1916–18. When Brigadier General J. R. Royston was invalided home,
Colonel Maygar acted as brigadier general in command of the 3rd Light Horse
Brigade. Late on the day of the battle of Beersheba, 31 October 1917, a German
aeroplane, using bombs and machine-guns, hit Maygar whose arm was shattered.
The grey bolted into the darkness and was found later by 8th Regiment troopers
but Maygar was not with him. ‘He was picked up during the night by other troops
... and, having lost too much blood, died the next day at Karm’. LC Maygar,
‘Elsie’ as he was affectionately known, was ‘a true fighting commander’.[516]

Frederick Harold Tubb

Fifth child of Harry Tubb,
teacher, and his wife Emma Eliza, née Abbott, both English born. His father,
head teacher at the local school, subsequently took up a selection in the area.
Fred obtained his merit certificate and left school to manage the farm; he
later worked his own land. He was 5 ft 5 ins (167 cm) tall, an extrovert and a
born leader. After volunteer service with the Victorian Mounted Rifles
(1900–02) and the Australian Light Horse (1902–11), he joined the 60th
Battalion, Australian Military Forces, and was commissioned second lieutenant
in 1912. He transferred to the 58th Battalion in 1913.[520] Previous military service:
Served for fourteen years including 2 years commissioned service, 58th Infantry
(Essendon Rifles), Citizen Military Forces; Victoria Rifle Brigade, later with
Light Horse Brigade.[521]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Longwood, Victoria [electorate of Murray].[522]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9 August 1915—Gallipoli, Turkey.[524]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty at Lone Pine trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula, on 9th
August, 1915. In the early morning the enemy made a determined counter attack
on the centre of the newly captured trench held by Lieutenant Tubb. They
advanced up a sap and blew in a sandbag barricade, leaving only one foot of it
standing; but Lieutenant Tubb led his men back, repulsed the enemy, and rebuilt
the barricade. Supported by strong bombing parties, the enemy succeeded in
twice again blowing in the barricade; but on each occasion Lieutenant Tubb,
although wounded in the head and arm, held his ground with the greatest
coolness and rebuilt it, and finally succeeded in maintaining his position
under very heavy bomb fire.[525]

William Ruthven

Son of Peter Ruthven, carpenter,
and his wife Catherine Charlotte, née Bedwell, both Victorian born. He was
educated at the Vere Street State School, Collingwood, and became a mechanical
engineer. Ruthven was employed in the timber industry when he enlisted as a
private in the Australian Imperial Force on 16 April 1915.[530]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Collingwood, Victoria [electorate of
Melbourne].[531]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 19 May 1918—Ville-sur-Ancre, France.[533]

For most conspicuous bravery and
initiative in action. During the advance Sjt. Ruthven’s company suffered
numerous casualties, and his company commander was severely wounded. He
thereupon assumed command of this portion of the assault, took charge of the
company headquarters, and rallied the section in his vicinity. As the leading
wave approached its objective it was subjected to heavy fire from an enemy
machine gun at close range. Without hesitation, he at once sprang out, threw a
bomb which landed beside the post, and rushed the position, bayoneting one of
the crew and capturing the gun. He then encountered some of the enemy coming
out of a shelter. He wounded two, captured six others in the same position, and
handed them over to an escort from the leading wave, which had now reached the
objective. Sjt. Ruthven then reorganised the men in his vicinity and
established a post in the second objective. Observing enemy movement in a
sunken road nearby, he, without hesitation and armed only with a revolver, went
over the open alone and rushed the position, shooting two enemy who refused to
come out of their dugouts. He then single handed mopped up this position and
captured the whole of the garrison, amounting in all to thirty two and kept
them until assistance arrived to escort them back to our lines. During the
remainder of the day this gallant non-commissioned officer set a splendid
example of leadership moving up and down his position under fire, supervising
consolidation and encouraging his men. Throughout the whole operation he showed
the most magnificent courage and determination, inspiring every one by his fine
fighting spirit, his remarkable courage and his dashing action.[534]

He returned to Australia in
October with several other Victoria Cross winners to assist recruiting and
received a hero’s welcome in Melbourne. He was promoted lieutenant and on 11
December his AIF appointment ended. Ruthven resumed work as a wood machinist
and on 20 December 1919 married Irene May White at St Philip’s Anglican Church,
Abbotsford; they had a daughter and a son. In the mid-1920s the family moved to
a soldier-settlement block at Werrimull. Bad seasons and poor health forced Ruthven
back to Collingwood in 1931. He became a carrier and later worked with the
State Rivers and Water Supply Commission. He was elected to the Collingwood Council
and became mayor in 1945. During World War II, from December 1941 Ruthven
served with the 3rd Australian Garrison Battalion and other garrison units,
including those centred at Murchison, Victoria’s largest prisoner-of-war camp.

In August 1944 he ceased full-time
duty, as major. He sat in the Victorian Legislative Assembly during 1945–55 as
the Labor member for Preston, then following a redistribution represented
Reservoir until his retirement in 1961.‘Rusty’ Ruthven retained close links
with other Victoria Cross winners and the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’
Imperial League of Australia. In 1932 he was one of the pallbearers at Albert
Jacka’s funeral and he attended the 1956 Victoria Cross centenary celebrations
in London. He was president of the Werrimull and Collingwood RSSILA
sub-branches, a life member of the Preston sub-branch and a trustee of
Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and the St Kilda Memorial Hall. Ruthven was
also official timekeeper for the Collingwood Football Club and a foundation
member of its social club. The war, however, had severely affected his health;
illness forced his retirement from politics. Survived by his wife and children,
he died on 12 January 1970 in Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and was cremated
with military honours. The Ruthven Soldiers’ Club had been opened at
Broadmeadows in 1959 and in 1963 a new railway station near Reservoir was named
after him. His medals and a portrait by George Bell are displayed in the
Australian War Memorial’s Hall of Valour.[536]

Maurice Vincent
Buckley (alias Gerald Sexton)

Son of Timothy Buckley,
brickmaker, and his wife Honora Mary Agnes, née Sexton. His father was a native
of Cork, Ireland; his mother was Victorian-born. Educated at the Christian
Brothers’ school, Abbotsford, he became a coach-trimmer and was working at
Warrnambool when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 18 December
1914.[540]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Warrnambool, Victoria [electorate of Wannon].[541]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 18 September 1918—Le Verguier, France.[543]

For most conspicuous bravery
during the attack near Le Verguier, north-west of St. Quentin, on the 18th
September, 1918. During the whole period of the advance, which was very
seriously opposed, Sgt. Sexton was to the fore dealing with enemy machine guns;
rushing enemy posts, and performing great feats of bravery and endurance
without faltering or for a moment taking cover. When the advance had passed the
ridge at La Verguier, Sgt. Sexton's attention was directed to a party of the
enemy manning a bank, and to a field gun causing casualties and holding up a
company. Without hesitation, calling to his section to follow, he rushed down
the bank and killed the gunners of the field gun. Regardless of machine-gun
fire, he returned to the bank, and after firing down some dugouts induced about
thirty of the enemy to surrender. When the advance was continued from the first
to the second objective the company was again held up by machine guns on the
flanks. Supported by another platoon, he disposed of the enemy guns, displaying
boldness which inspired all. Later, he again showed the most conspicuous
initiative in the capture of hostile posts and machine guns, and rendered
invaluable support to his company digging in.[544]

Having been declared a deserter
in January 1916 when he went missing from a containment camp in Australia, he
re-enlisted in May 1916 under the name Gerald Sexton. Gerald was the name of
his deceased brother and Sexton was his mother’s maiden name. The Gazette of 14
December 1919 confirmed that he was permitted to reassume the name Maurice
Buckley.[545]

Buckley returned to Australia and
was discharged in December 1919; [the] next year he began work as a
road-contractor in Gippsland.[547]
After the war, in 1920, Buckley was one of the 14 Victoria Cross winners who
marched on St Patrick’s Day in Melbourne to support Archbishop Daniel Mannix
who had been outspoken against the war. (Opponents had tried unsuccessfully to
prevent the parade.)[548]
On 15 January 1921 he was injured when he tried to jump his horse over the
railway gates at Boolarra. He died twelve days later in hospital at Fitzroy,
and after a requiem mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral was buried in Brighton
cemetery with full military honours. Ten Victoria Cross winners were
pallbearers. Buckley was unmarried. A friend described him as a ‘modest,
unassuming young man, with a great fondness for horses and an open-air life’.[549]

Samuel George Pearse

Son of George Stapleton Pearse,
labourer, and his wife Sarah Ann, née Sellick, and was educated at Penarth
Boarding School. The family migrated to Australia with Sam accompanying his
father and a brother about 1911 while the rest of the family followed after
George Pearse had obtained a property at Koorlong, Victoria. Sam took work
fruit-picking, labouring, trapping, and as a deck-hand on the paddle-steamer Viola.[553]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Koorlong, Victoria [electorate of Mallee].[554]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 29 August 1919—near Emsta, Russia.[556]

For most conspicuous bravery,
devotion to duty and self-sacrifice during the operation against the enemy
battery position north of Emtsa (North Russia) on the 29th August, 1919.
Serjeant Pearse cut his way through the enemy barbed wire under very heavy
machine-gun and rifle fire and cleared a way for the troops to enter the
battery position. Seeing that a blockhouse was harassing our advance and
causing us casualties, he charged the blockhouse single-handed, killing the
occupants with bombs. This gallant non-commissioned officer met his death a
minute later, and it was due to him that the position was carried with so few
casualties.[557]

Unit at time
of action: 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, Sadlier-Jackson’s Brigade.[558]

Thomas Cooke

Son of Tom Cooke, an English-born
carpenter, and his wife Caroline Ann, née Cooper. Educated at Kaikoura District
High School, he later moved to Wellington with his family and became a
carpenter. There, on 4 June 1902, he married Maud Elizabeth Elliott. Cooke’s
main hobby was band music: he was an excellent cornetist and belonged to the
city’s garrison band. In 1912, with his wife and three children, he migrated to
Victoria, settling in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. Cooke worked as a
builder until World War I.[562]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Richmond, Victoria [electorate of Melbourne].[563]

Description of
action for which VC awarded: 22–26 July 1916—Pozières, France.[565]

For most conspicuous bravery. After
a Lewis gun had been disabled, [Private Cooke] was ordered to take his gun and
gun-team to a dangerous part of the line. Here he did fine work, but came under
very heavy fire, with the result that finally he was the only man left. He
still stuck to his post, and continued to fire his gun. When assistance was
sent he was found dead beside his gun. He set a splendid example of
determination and devotion to duty.[566]

William Thomas
Dartnell (alias Wilbur Taylor Dartnell)

Son of English-born Henry
Dartnell, fruiterer, and his native-born wife Rose Ann, née Hanley. He was
educated in Melbourne and became an actor ... At 16 he had served in the South
African War with the 5th Victorian (Mounted Rifles) Contingent. ... On 15 April
1907, at Queen Street, Melbourne, he married Elizabeth Edith Smyth with
Presbyterian forms; they settled at Fitzroy.[571]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Fitzroy, Victoria [electorate of Melbourne].[572]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 3 September 1915—near Maktau, Kenya.[574]

For most conspicuous bravery near
Maktau (East Africa) on 3rd September, 1915. During a mounted infantry
engagement the enemy got within a few yards of our men, and it was found impossible to get the more severely wounded away. Lieutenant
Dartnell, who was himself being carried away wounded in the leg, seeing, the
situation, and knowing that the enemy's black troops murdered the wounded,
insisted on being left behind in the hopes of being able to save the lives of
the other wounded men. He gave his own life in the gallant attempt to save
others.[575]

Unit at time
of action: 25th (Service) Battalion (Frontiersmen), the Royal Fusiliers (City
of London Regiment).[576]

William Donovan Joynt

Third son of Edward Kelly Joynt, a
commercial traveller from Ireland, and his Victorian-born wife Alice, née
Woolcott. He attended the Grange Preparatory School, South Yarra, and Melbourne
Church of England Grammar School (1904) before taking office jobs, including
one with an accountancy firm in 1906–07. In 1909 he sailed for Rockhampton,
Queensland, walked to Mackay, joined a coastal steamer bound for Cairns, and
did bush and farm jobs in North Queensland. He then worked in the Victorian
Mallee and in Western Australia, and was dairying and digging potatoes on
Flinders Island, off Tasmania, when World War I began.[580]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Elsternwick, Victoria [electorate of Melbourne
Ports].[581]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 23 August 1918—Herleville Wood, France.[583]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty during the attack on Herleville Wood, near Chuignes, Peronne,
on 23rd August, 1918. His company commander, having been killed early in the
advance, he immediately took charge of the company, which he led with courage
and skill. On approaching Herleville Wood, the troops of the leading battalion
which his battalion was supporting, suffered very heavy casualties and were
much shaken. Lt. Joynt, grasping the situation, rushed forward under very heavy
machine gun and artillery fire, collected and reorganised the remnant of the
battalion, and kept them under cover pending the arrival of his own company. He
then made a personal reconnaissance and found that the fire from the wood was
checking the whole advance and causing heavy casualties to troops on his
flanks. Dashing out in front of his men, he inspired and led a magnificent
frontal bayonet attack on the wood. The enemy were staggered by this sudden
onslaught, and a very critical situation was saved. Later at Plateau Wood, this
very gallant officer again, with a small party of volunteers, rendered
invaluable service, and after severe hand to hand fighting turned a stubborn
defence into an abject surrender. His valour and determination was conspicuous
throughout, and he continued to do magnificent work until badly wounded by a
shell.[584]

He was seriously wounded in the
buttock on 26 August 1918 and evacuated to England. Promoted to captain in
October, he was posted to AIF Headquarters, London, in March 1919. In February
1920 he returned to Melbourne, where his AIF appointment terminated on 11 June.
His elder brother Gerald, a lieutenant in the 57th Battalion, had been killed
at Polygon Wood, Belgium, on 25 September 1917. Joynt had studied agriculture
and sheep-breeding in England in 1919, and in 1920 he became a soldier settler,
dairy farming near Berwick. By 1926 he had a manager on his block, and when it
was resumed in 1929 was pursuing interests in Melbourne. He was a pioneer of
colour printing in Australia. About 1920 he had formed Queen City Printers Pty
Ltd and with Walter Dexter arranged an exhibition of war photographs in colour,
and printed its catalogue. He then formed Colarts Studios Pty Ltd and bought
the rights to a German colour-printing process. The business failed during the
Depression, but under various business names Joynt remained a printer and
publisher for over sixty years. He called himself a ‘master printer’ when he
married Edith Amy Garrett, a trained nurse, in a civil ceremony at Hawthorn on
19 March 1932, his forty-third birthday.

An inaugural member of Melbourne
Legacy in 1923, Joynt helped to lead the club’s successful campaign to have
Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance built in its present form on its present
site. He was active in the Militia in 1926-33, being promoted to major in
February 1930. Mobilised on 26 September 1939, he commanded the 3rd Garrison
Battalion at Queenscliff and then, from March 1941, Puckapunyal camp. From June
1942 he was camp staff officer then quartermaster at Seymour camp. He was
placed on the Retired List as an honorary lieutenant colonel on 10 October
1944. He and his wife rented then bought Tom Roberts’s old home, Talisman, at
Kallista and lived there until they built their own home nearby. Joynt wrote
three autobiographical books: To Russia and Back Through Communist Countries
(1971), Saving the Channel Ports, 1918 (1975) and Breaking the Road
for the Rest (1979).

Short and dark, with twinkling
grey eyes, Donovan Joynt was a chirpy cock sparrow of a man, self-reliant,
dogmatic, conservative, a nominal Anglican, a Freemason from 1924, a dedicated
advocate of returned-soldier causes, a special constable during the 1923
Melbourne police strike, a keen club-man and a life member of the Naval and
Military Club. In 1979 he described himself as a ‘Royalist’ with a ‘love of all
things British’, while an old Legacy comrade called him ‘a dedicated King’s
Man, a true-blue adherent of all the best traditions and heritages of his
British ancestry’. His wife died in 1978. The last surviving of Australia’s
World War I VC winners, he died on 5 May 1986 at Windsor and was buried with
full military honours in Brighton cemetery. He had no children.[586]

William Ellis (Bill) Newton

Son of Australian-born parents
Charles Ellis Newton, dentist, and his second wife Minnie, née Miller. Bill was
educated to Intermediate certificate level at Melbourne Church of England
Grammar School, where his masters regarded him as having qualities of
leadership. Six ft 3 ins (191 cm) tall and 16 stone (102 kg) in weight, he was
a fine all-round sportsman who played cricket for the Victorian second XI. He
worked in the silk-warehouse of Makower, McBeath & Co. Pty Ltd before
enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force on 5 February 1940.

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: St Kilda, Victoria [electorate of Melbourne
Ports].[590]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: May 1942–March 1943—New Guinea.[592]

Flight Lieutenant Newton served in
New Guinea from May 1942 to March 1943 and completed 52 operational sorties.
Throughout, he displayed great courage and an iron determination to inflict the
utmost damage on the enemy. His splendid offensive flying and fighting were
attended with brilliant success. Disdaining evasive tactics when under the
heaviest fire, he always went straight to his objectives. He carried out many
daring machine-gun attacks on enemy positions involving low-flying over long
distances in the face of continuous fire at point-blank range. On three
occasions, he dived through intense anti-aircraft fire to release his bombs on
important targets on the Salamaua Isthmus. On one of these occasions, his starboard
engine failed over the target, but he succeeded in flying back to an airfield
160 miles away.

When leading an attack on an
objective on 16th March, 1943, he dived through intense and accurate shell fire
and his aircraft was hit repeatedly. Nevertheless, he held to his course and
bombed his target from a low level. The attack resulted in the destruction of
many buildings and dumps, including two 40 000-gallon fuel installations.
Although his aircraft was crippled, with fuselage and wing sections torn,
petrol tanks pierced, main-planes and engines seriously damaged, and one of the
main tyres flat, Flight Lieutenant Newton managed to fly it back to base and
make a successful landing. Despite this harassing experience, he returned next
day to the same locality. His target, this time a single building, was even
more difficult but he again attacked with his usual courage and resolution,
flying a steady course through a barrage of fire. He scored a hit on the
building but at the same moment his aircraft burst into flames.

Flight Lieutenant Newton
maintained control and calmly turned his aircraft away and flew along the
shore. He saw it as his duty to keep the aircraft in the air as long as he
could so as to take his crew as far away as possible from the enemy's
positions. With great skill, he brought his blazing aircraft down on the water.
Two members of the crew were able to extricate themselves and were seen
swimming to the shore, but the gallant pilot is missing. According to other air
crews who witnessed the occurrence, his escape-hatch was not opened and his
dinghy was not inflated. Without regard to his own safety, he had done all that
man could do to prevent his crew from falling into enemy hands. Flight
Lieutenant Newton’s many examples of conspicuous bravery have rarely been
equalled and will serve as a shining inspiration to all who follow him.[593]

Francis Hubert (Frank) McNamara

Son of William Francis McNamara,
an officer of the Department of Lands, and his wife Rosanna, née O’Meara, both
Victorian born. Educated at Rushworth local school and Shepparton Agricultural
High School, he was appointed a junior teacher in the State Education
Department in March 1911 and in 1913–14 studied at the Teachers’ Training
College, Melbourne, for a diploma. After graduating he was a temporary teacher
in 1915 at four schools. McNamara had joined the senior cadets while still at
school and in 1913 was commissioned in the 46th Infantry Battalion (Brighton
Rifles). He was mobilized on the outbreak of World War I and carried out
garrison duty at Queenscliff and Point Nepean fixed defences before attending
the Officers’ Training School, Broadmeadows, in December 1914. He was then an
instructor at the Australian Imperial Force’s training depot, Broadmeadows,
until August 1915, when he was selected for the military aeronautics course at
Point Cook Flying School. He graduated as a pilot in October and after
attending an advanced officers’ course was posted to No.1 Squadron, Australian
Flying Corps, as adjutant when that unit was being formed in Melbourne as part
of the AIF.[598]
Previous military service: Served in the 46th and 47th Infantry; posted to the
Australian Flying Corps, Citizen Military Forces.

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Laverton, Victoria [electorate of Lalor].[599]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 20 March 1917—Tel-el-Hesi, Palestine.[601]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty during an aerial bomb attack upon a hostile construction
train, when one of our pilots was forced to land behind the enemy’s lines. Lt.
McNamara, observing the pilot’s predicament and the fact that hostile cavalry
were approaching, descended to his rescue. He did this under heavy rifle fire
and in spite of the fact that he himself had been severely wounded in the
thigh. He landed about 200 yards from the damaged machine, the pilot of which
climbed on to Lt. McNamara’s machine, and an attempt was made to rise. Owing,
however, to his disabled leg, Lt. McNamara was unable to keep his machine straight,
and it turned over. The two officers, having extricated themselves, immediately
set fire to the machine and made their way across to the damaged machine, which
they succeeded in starting. Finally Lieutenant McNamara, although weak from
loss of blood, flew this machine back to the aerodrome, a distance of seventy
miles, and thus completed his comrade’s rescue.[602]

In April 1917 McNamara was
appointed flight commander and promoted captain but was invalided to Australia
in September and demobilized in January 1918. However, he was reappointed to
the AFC on 9 September, as lieutenant (honorary captain), as a flying instructor,
an appointment which was then with the army and known as the Aviation
Instruction Staff. When the (Royal) Australian Air Force was formed in March
1921 he transferred with the rank of flight lieutenant. He served at RAAF
Headquarters, Melbourne, as staff officer, Operations and Intelligence, until
July 1922, when he was appointed officer commanding, No.1 Flying Training
School, at Point Cook; he was promoted squadron leader in March 1924. On 29
April, at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, he married Hélène Marcelle
Bluntschli of Brussels whom he had met in Egypt during the war; his groomsman
was Squadron Leader A Murray Jones. McNamara was posted to Britain in 1925 on
exchange duty with the Royal Air Force, returning to Australia in November 1927
and a re-posting to No.1 Flying Training School, initially as
second-in-command, and then as commanding officer in October 1930. He was
promoted wing commander in October 1931 but remained in command of No.1 Flying
Training School until February 1933, when he was posted to command of No.1
Aircraft Depot and RAAF Station, Laverton, Victoria.

McNamara was promoted group
captain three years later and in 1937 was sent to the United Kingdom to attend
the Imperial Defence College; he was then posted to Australia House as the
Australian air liaison officer with the Air Ministry. On the outbreak of World
War II he was promoted air commodore and in 1942 was appointed air officer
commanding RAAF, London, with the rank of air vice marshal. He was later
attached on loan to the RAF where he was air officer commanding British forces
at Aden in 1942–45. On returning to London he became RAAF representative at the
British Ministry of Defence, and, in 1946, director of education at
headquarters, British Occupation Administration, Westphalia, Germany. He
retired from the RAAF that year, and was a member of the National Coal Board,
London, in 1947–59. Survived by his wife, a son and a daughter, he died of
hypertensive heart failure at Amersham, Buckinghamshire, on 2 November 1961; a
large congregation attended his funeral at St Joseph’s Priory, Austin Wood,
Gerrard’s Cross. McNamara was a genial, ‘cheery, unruffled soul’, unassuming
and perennially courteous. Air Vice Marshal AT Cole, who had served with him in
Egypt, described him as ‘quiet, scholarly, loyal and beloved by all ... the last
Officer for whom that high honour [the VC] would have been predicted’. He was
appointed CB. in 1938 and CB in 1945. In 1928 he had resumed studies
interrupted by war service and graduated BA from the University of Melbourne in
1933.[604]

Robert Mactier

Son of Scottish-born Robert
Mactier, farmer, and his Victorian wife Christina, née Ross. Seventh child in a
close-knit Presbyterian family of ten, he was educated at Tatura State School
and later worked on his father’s properties at Tatura and Caniambo. Stocky and
athletic, he excelled at football and shooting; his ‘irrepressible sense of
humour’ and ‘gentlemanly disposition’ made him popular among the locals.[608]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Tatura, Victoria [electorate of Murray].[609]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1 September 1918—Mont St Quentin, France.[611]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty on the morning of the 1st September, 1918, during the attack
on the village of Mt St Quentin. Prior to the advance of the battalion, it was
necessary to clear up several enemy strong points close to our line. This the
bombing patrols sent forward failed to effect, and the battalion was unable to
move. Pte. Mactier, single handed, and in daylight, thereupon jumped out of the
trench, rushed past the block, closed with and killed the machine gun garrison
of eight men with his revolver and bombs, and threw the enemy machine gun over
the parapet. Then, rushing forward about 20 yards, he jumped into another
strong point held by a garrison of six men, who immediately surrendered.
Continuing to the next block through the trench, he disposed of an enemy
machine gun which had been enfilading our flank advancing troops, and was then
killed by another machine gun at close range. It was entirely due to this
exceptional valour and determination of Pte. Mactier that the battalion was
able to move on to its ‘jumping off’ trench and carry out the successful
operation of capturing the village of Mt St Quentin a few hours later.[612]

Edward (Ted) Kenna

Ted Kenna was born in Hamilton, Victoria, on 6 July 1919. He
was educated at St Mary’s Convent, Hamilton, and worked as a plumber after
leaving school. Kenna was a keen cyclist and footballer and served in the
Citizen Military Forces.[617]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Hamilton, Victoria [electorate of Wannon].[618]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 15 May 1945—Wewak, Papua New Guinea.[620]

In the South West Pacific at Wewak
on 15th May, 1945, during the attack on the Wirui Mission features, Private
Kenna’s company had the task of capturing certain enemy positions. The only
position from which observation for supporting fire could be obtained was
continuously swept by enemy heavy machine gun fire and it was not possible to
bring Artillery or Mortars into action. Private Kenna’s platoon was ordered
forward to deal with the enemy machine gun post, so that the company operation
could proceed. His section moved as close as possible to the bunker in order to
harass any enemy seen, so that the remainder of the platoon could attack from
the flank. When the attacking sections came into view of the enemy they were
immediately engaged at very close range by heavy automatic fire from a position
not previously disclosed. Casualties were suffered and the attackers could not
move further forward.

Private Kenna endeavoured to put
his Bren gun into a position where he could engage the bunker, but was unable
to do so because of the nature of the ground. On his own initiative and without
orders Private Kenna immediately stood up in full view of the enemy less than
fifty yards away and engaged the bunker, firing his Bren gun from the hip. The
enemy machine gun immediately returned Private Kenna’s fire and with such
accuracy that bullets actually passed between his arms and his body.
Undeterred, he remained completely exposed and continued to fire at the enemy
until his magazine was exhausted. Still making a target of himself, Private
Kenna discarded his Bren gun and called for a rifle. Despite the intense
machine gun fire, he seized the rifle and, with amazing coolness, killed the
gunner with his first round.

A second automatic opened fire on
Private Kenna from a different position and another of the enemy immediately
tried to move into position behind the first machine gun, but Private Kenna
remained standing and killed him with his next round. The result of Private
Kenna’s magnificent bravery in the face of concentrated fire, was that the
bunker was captured without further loss, and the company attack proceeded to a
successful conclusion, many enemy being killed and numerous automatic weapons
captured. There is no doubt that the success of the company attack would have
been seriously endangered and many casualties sustained but for Private Kenna’s
magnificent courage and complete disregard for his own safety. His action was
an outstanding example of the highest degree of bravery.[621]

He spent more than a year in
hospital before being discharged from the AIF in December 1946. The following
year he married Marjorie Rushberry, who had nursed him at Heidleberg Military
Hospital. After his discharge from hospital, Kenna returned to Hamilton. Proud
of their Victoria Cross winner, the people of the Hamilton district raised
sufficient funds to build Kenna and his wife a house which remains the family
home. The Kennas had four children. After the war he worked with the local
council and played Australian Rules football for the local team. He has
attended many Victoria Cross reunions in London and has led the annual Anzac
Day march in Melbourne. In the 1980s Kenna had his portrait painted by Sir William
Dargie and in July 2000 he was featured on a postage stamp as part of an issue
commemorating Australia’s living Victoria Cross winners.[623] Edward Kenna died on 8
July 2009, being the last surviving VC winner from the Second World War.[624]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 4 July 1918—Hamel, France.[631]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty when in action with a Lewis gun section: His company met with
determined resistance from a strong point which was strongly garrisoned, manned
by numerous machine guns, and undamaged by our artillery fire, was also
protected by strong wire entanglements. A heavy concentration of machine gun
fire caused many casualties, and held up our advance. His Lewis gun having come
into action and silenced enemy guns in one direction, an enemy gun fire opened
from another direction. Private Dalziel dashed at it, and with his revolver
killed and captured the entire crew and gun, and allowed our advance to
continue. He was severely wounded in the hand, but carried on and took part in
the capture of the final objective. He twice went over open ground under heavy
enemy artillery and machine gun fire to secure ammunition, though suffering
from considerable loss of blood. He filled magazines and served his gun until
severely wounded through the head. His magnificent bravery and devotion to duty
was an inspiring example to all his comrades, and his dash and unselfish
courage at a most critical time undoubtedly saved many lives, and turned what
could have been a severe check into a splendid success.[632]

Dalziel’s wound was so severe that
his skull was smashed and the brain exposed. He received extensive medical
treatment in England before returning to Australia in January 1919. While
travelling home by train, he received a hero’s welcome at every station from
Townsville to Atherton. On 8 April 1920, at the Congregational manse, South
Brisbane, he married Ida Maude Ramsay, a nurse who had served with the 17th
Australian General Hospital. They took up a soldier-settlement block, which
they named Zenith, on the Tolga railway line. As Dalziel was unable to cope
with the day-to-day duties of a small mixed farm his wife assumed most of the
work-load. His interest in farming waned after a few years and Dalziel left her
to run Zenith and moved south. He worked in a Sydney factory in the late 1920s
but by 1933 had settled in Brisbane where he was out of work for some time; he
later received a war pension. In the early 1930s he joined the Citizen Military
Forces, becoming a sergeant in the 9th/15th Battalion. He developed an interest
in song-writing, cultivated at first during long periods of hospitalization;
some of his songs, such as A Song of the Tableland and Love Time,
Merry Love Time, were published in England. In 1956 he went to London for
the VC centenary celebrations.[634]

Bernard Sidney Gordon

Son of Charles Gordon, cabman and
later hotel proprietor, and his wife Mary, née Rowlands. After schooling at
Deloraine and Devonport he worked as a cooper’s machinist at Beaconsfield. He
later went to Townsville, Queensland, where he was in charge of remounts en
route to India.[638]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Townsville, Queensland [electorate of
Herbert].[639]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 26–27 August 1918—east of Bray, France.[641]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty on 26th–27th August, 1918, east of Bray. [Lance Corporal Gordon]
led his section through heavy shell fire to the objective, which he
consolidated. Single handed, he attacked an enemy machine gun which was
enfilading the company on his right, killed the man on the gun, and capturing
the post, which contained one officer and ten men. He then cleared up a trench,
capturing twenty nine prisoners and two machine guns. In clearing up further
trenches he captured twenty two prisoners, including one officer, and three
machine guns. Practically unaided, he captured, in the course of these
operations, two officers and sixty one other ranks, together with six machine
guns, and displayed throughout a wonderful example of fearless initiative.[642]

Gordon was again wounded on 1
September while the battalion was advancing in the Mont St Quentin area. He
returned to Australia in January 1919, and was discharged in Queensland in
April. He ran a grocer’s shop at Clayfield but then took up a dairy farming and
Jersey stud property, Lincolnfield, near Beaudesert, where he farmed for
forty-three years. A keen amateur rider, he was also a good horse-breaker and
keen sportsman, a promoter of racing, cycling, boxing and football; he won many
amateur boxing tournaments and medals for his achievements. He was a popular
man in any company, with a ready wit and a keen sense of humour, and was well
known for his stories and anecdotes. In 1956 he attended the Victoria Cross
centenary celebrations in London, and in 1960, in his honour, the Gordon
Soldiers’ Club was opened at Cabarlah, Queensland. Gordon remained at
Lincolnfield until ill health forced him to move to Hervey Bay early in 1962.
He had suffered for years from pulmonary tuberculosis. He died at Torquay,
Queensland, on 19 October 1963, and was cremated in Brisbane with Methodist
forms. Gordon had married Evelyn Catherine Lonergan on 29 December 1915 at
Launceston, with Catholic rites; there were six children of this marriage. He
was a widower when he married Caroline Edith Manley, née Victorsen, a widow, on
15 September 1938, at Ann Street Presbyterian Church, Brisbane; they had two
sons and one daughter. Gordon was survived by his second wife and eight of his
children.[644]

Henry William Murray

Son of Edward Kennedy Murray,
farmer, and his wife Clarissa, née Littler. His father died when he was young
and after leaving Evandale State School Harry helped to run the family farm.
His military career began with six years’ service in the Australian Field
Artillery (militia) at Launceston. At 19 or 20 he moved to Western Australia,
working as a mail courier on the goldfields, travelling by bicycle or on
horseback. When he enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force on 13
October 1914, describing himself as a ‘bushman’, he was employing men cutting
timber for the railways in the south-west of the State.[648] Previous military service:
Six years’ service in the Australian Field Artillery (militia) in Launceston.[649]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: near Manjimup, Western Australia [electorate
of O’Connor].[650]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 4–5 January 1917—near Gueudecourt, France.[652]

For most conspicuous bravery when
in command of the right flank company in attack. [Captain Murray] led his
company to the assault with great skill and courage, and the position was
quickly captured. Fighting of a very severe nature followed, and three heavy
counter attacks were beaten back, these successes being due to Captain Murray’s
wonderful work. Throughout the night his company suffered heavy casualties
through concentrated enemy shell fire, and on one occasion gave ground for a
short way. This gallant officer rallied his command and saved the situation by
sheer valour. He made his presence felt throughout the line, encouraging his
men, heading bombing parties, leading bayonet charges, and carrying wounded to
places of safety. His magnificent example inspired his men throughout.[653]

After the Armistice he toured
Britain studying agricultural methods and on return to Australia began looking
for a sheep-farming property. His AIF appointment ended on 9 March 1920. After
discharge in Tasmania he moved to Queensland and became a grazier at Blairmack,
Muckadilla. On 13 October 1921, at Bollon, he married an estate agent,
Constance Sophia Cameron. They lived at Muckadilla until 1925 when they separated
and Murray went to New Zealand. Their marriage was dissolved on 11 November
1927 and on 20 November, at the Registrar’s Office, Auckland, Murray married
Ellen Purdon Cameron. They returned to Queensland and in April 1928 Murray
bought Glenlyon station, Richmond, a 74,000-acre (29,947 ha) grazing property
where he lived for the rest of his life. In World War II he commanded the 26th
Battalion in North Queensland until April 1942; in August he became
lieutenant-colonel commanding his local battalion of the Volunteer Defence
Corps; he retired from military service on 8 February 1944. Although a shy man
who shunned publicity he attended the VC centenary celebrations in London in
1956. Survived by his wife and their son and daughter, he died on 7 January 1966
in Miles District Hospital, Queensland, after a car accident. He was cremated
with Presbyterian forms.

The historian of the 16th
Battalion wrote of him: ‘To Murray belongs the honour of rising from a
machine-gun private to the command of a machine-gun battalion of 64 guns, and
of receiving more fighting decorations than any other infantry soldier in the
British Army in the Great War’. The 13th Battalion historian noted: ‘Not only
was the 13th proud of him but the whole brigade was, from general to Digger. His
unconscious modesty won him still greater admiration ... Murray’s courage was not
a reckless exposure to danger like that of Jacka or Sexton who didn’t know
fear’. He was a sensitive man who believed in discipline and wrote that ‘it
transformed thousands of men – nervy and highly-strung like myself – enabling
them to do the work which without discipline, they would have been quite
incapable of performing’. Bean called him ‘the most distinguished fighting
officer in the AIF’[655]

Place
of burial or cremation: Cremated at Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium,
Holland Park, Queensland [electorate of Bonner].[657]

John Carroll

Born: 16
August 1891, South Brisbane, Queensland [electorate of Griffith].[658]

Life before
the war:

Son of John Carroll, labourer, and
his wife Catherine, née Wallace, both Irish-born. When he was 2 the family
moved to Donnybrook, Western Australia, and then to Yarloop. About 1905 they
settled at Kurrawang where John and his father joined the Goldfields Firewood
Supply Co. as labourers. Tall and well built, John was a good athlete and a
prominent member of the local football club; he was working as a railway guard
on the Kurrawang line when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a
private on 27 April 1916.[659]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Kurrawang, Western Australia [electorate of O’Connor].[660]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 7–12 January 1917—St Yves, France.[662]

For most conspicuous bravery: During
an attack, immediately the barrage lifted, Private John Carroll rushed the
enemy’s trench and bayoneted four of the enemy. He then noticed a comrade in
difficulties, and at once proceeded to his comrade’s assistance and killed one
of the enemy. He continued working ahead with great determination until he came
across a machine gun and team of four men in a shell hold. Single handed he
attacked the entire team, killing three of the men and capturing the gun. Later
on, two of his comrades were buried by a shell, and, in spite of very heavy
shelling and machine gun fire, he managed to extricate them. During the 96
hours the battalion was in the line, Private Carroll displayed most wonderful
courage and fearlessness. His magnificent example of gallantry and devotion to
duty inspired all ranks in his battalion.[663]

After demobilization Carroll
resumed work as a guard on the Kurrawang line. He married Mary Brown in the
Catholic Cathedral, Perth, on 23 April 1923; they had no children. In the
mid-1920s he moved to the Yarloop district and in November 1927, when he was working
as a railway truck examiner at Hoffman’s Mill, he slipped while boarding a
train during shunting operations and crushed his right foot; it was amputated
but he continued working for many years as a labourer and railway employee. In
1956 he went to London for the Victoria Cross centenary celebrations, then
retired to the Perth suburb of Bedford. He died in the Repatriation General
Hospital, Hollywood, on 4 October 1971 and was buried in Karrakatta cemetery
with full military honours. His wife had predeceased him. Carroll, who was
known among his AIF comrades as ‘the wild Irishman’, was casual and
happy-go-lucky by nature. He missed three dates for his investiture with the VC
and had to be sent for on the fourth occasion; after the ceremony he amused himself
by exercising the Victoria Cross winners’ right to turn out the Buckingham
Palace Guard. He was also known as ‘Referendum Carroll’ because he rarely said
anything but yes or no. Two of his brothers served as privates in the AIF.[665]

Died: 4
October 1971, Nedlands, Western Australia [electorate of Curtin].[666]

Place
of burial or cremation: Karrakatta Cemetery, Karrakatta, Western Australia [electorate
of Curtin].[667]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 25 July 1916—Pozières, France.[672]

For most conspicuous bravery. He
was one of a party which finally captured an enemy strong point. At one
assault, when the enemy’s bombs were outranging ours, Private Leak jumped out
of the trench, ran forward under heavy machine gun fire at close range, and
threw three bombs into the enemy’s bombing post. He then jumped into the post
and bayoneted three unwounded enemy bombers. Later, when the enemy in
overwhelming numbers was driving his party back he was always the last to
withdraw at each stage, and kept on throwing bombs. His courage and energy had
such an effect on the enemy that, on the arrival of reinforcements, the whole
trench was recaptured.[673]

Late in life, he suffered from
bronchitis and emphysema. He married Beatrice May Chapman on 30 December 1918
in the Parish Church of St John Baptist, Cardiff, Wales. On 9 February 1919
Leak embarked for Australia and was discharged from the AIF in Queensland on 31
May. After two years in Queensland he moved to New South Wales for two and a
half years. Further moves took him to South Australia and then to Esperance in
Western Australia where he became a mechanic and garage proprietor. He was
married again on 19 January 1927 to Ada Victoria Bood-Smith. On retirement he
settled at Crafers, South Australia. Survived by four sons and three daughters,
he died at Redwood Park on 20 October 1972 and was buried in Stirling cemetery.[675]

On 24th May 1969, in Kontum
Province, Warrant Officer Payne was Commanding 212th Company of 1st Mobile
Strike Force Battalion when the battalion was attacked by a North Vietnamese
force of superior strength. Under this heavy attack the indigenous soldiers
began to fall back. Directly exposing himself to the enemy’s fire, Warrant
Officer Payne, through his own efforts, temporarily held off the assaults by
alternately firing his weapon and running from position to position collecting
grenades and throwing them at the assaulting enemy. While doing this he was
wounded in the hand and arms. Despite his outstanding efforts, the indigenous
soldiers gave way under the enemy’s increased pressure and the Battalion
Commander, together with several advisors and a few soldiers, withdrew. Paying
no attention to his wounds and under extremely heavy enemy fire, Warrant
Officer Payne covered his withdrawal by throwing grenades and firing his own
weapon at the enemy who were attempting to follow up. Still under fire, he then
ran across exposed ground to head off his own troops who were withdrawing in
disorder. He successfully stopped them and organised the remnants of his and
the second company into a temporary defensive perimeter by nightfall.

Having achieved this, Warrant
Officer Payne of his own accord and at great personal risk, moved out of the
perimeter into the darkness alone in an attempt to find the wounded and other
indigenous soldiers. He finally collected forty lost soldiers, some of whom had
been wounded and returned with this group to the temporary defensive position
he had left, only to find that the remainder of the battalion had moved back.
Undeterred by this setback and personally assisting a seriously wounded
American advisor he led the group through the enemy to the safety of his
battalion base. His sustained and heroic personal efforts, in this action were
outstanding and undoubtedly saved the lives of a large number of his indigenous
soldiers and several of his fellow advisors. Warrant Officer Payne’s repeated
acts of exceptional personal bravery and unselfish conduct in this operation
were an inspiration to all Vietnamese, United States and Australian soldiers
who served with him. His conspicuous gallantry was in the highest traditions of
the Australian Army.[682]

He was evacuated to Brisbane in
September [1969] suffering from an illness, receiving a warm reception at the
airport before entering hospital. In January 1970 Payne was posted to the Royal
Military College Duntroon as an instructor. Payne received his VC from the
Queen aboard the royal yacht, Britannia, in Brisbane. He was made a
Freeman of the city and of the shire in which his hometown was located. A park
in Stafford, Brisbane, where Payne lived was also named after him ... He retired
from the army in 1975, but saw further action as a captain with the Army of the
Sultan of Oman in the Dhofar War. Payne returned to Australia and became active
in the veteran community, particularly in counselling sufferers of
post-traumatic stress disorder. Payne and his wife raised five sons and are now
living at Mackay in Queensland [electorate of Dawson].[684]

Daniel Alan Keighran

Daniel Alan Keighran was born in
Nambour, Queensland on 18 June 1983 and spent his formative years in regional
Queensland. He enlisted in the Australian Army on 5 December 2000 and completed
his Initial Employment Training at the School of Infantry in Singleton, New
South Wales. In 2001, Corporal Keighran was posted to the 6th Battalion, the
Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR), where he served as a Rifleman in Delta
Company. He deployed to Rifle Company Butterworth Malaysia in 2001, on
Operation CITADEL - East Timor in 2003/2004 and again to Rifle Company
Butterworth Malaysia in 2004. Corporal Keighran was promoted to Lance Corporal
in 2005 and then served within Mortar Platoon, Support Company, 6 RAR. In 2006,
he deployed on Operation CATALYST Iraq where he served as a Bushmaster driver,
a role he also filled on deployment to Afghanistan with Operation SLIPPER in
2007, where he served in support of the Special Operations Task Group Rotation
4/5. In 2009, he was promoted to Corporal and posted back to Delta Company, 6
RAR.[686]

Description of action for which
VC awarded: 24 August 2010—Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.[688]

For the most conspicuous acts of
gallantry and extreme devotion to duty in action in circumstances of great
peril at Derapet, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan as part of the Mentoring Task
Force One on Operation SLIPPER. Corporal Keighran deployed to Afghanistan in
February 2010 with the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment. On 24 August
2010 he was a member of a partnered fighting patrol with soldiers of the Afghan
National Army’s 1st Kandak, 4th Brigade, 205th (Hero) Corps which was engaged
by a numerically superior and coordinated enemy attack from multiple firing
points in three separate locations. The attack was initiated by a high volume
of sustained and accurate machine-gun and small-arms fire which pinned down the
combined Australian and Afghan patrol and caused a loss of momentum. In the
early stages of the attack, and upon realising that the forward elements of the
patrol needed effective fire support, Corporal Keighran and another patrol
member moved under sustained and accurate enemy fire to an exposed ridgeline to
identify enemy locations and direct the return fire of both Australian and
Afghan machine guns. On reaching this position and with complete disregard for
his own wellbeing, Corporal Keighran deliberately drew enemy fire by leaving
the limited cover he had and moved over the ridgeline in order to positively
identify targets for the machine gunners of the combined patrol. After
identifying some of the enemy firing positions, Corporal Keighran, under
persistent enemy fire continued to lead and mentor his team and move around the
ridge to both direct the fire of the Afghan and Australian machine gunners and
to move them to more effective firing positions.

As
the intensity of enemy fire grew, Corporal Keighran returned to the crest of
the ridgeline to identify targets and adjust the fire of Australian Light
Armoured vehicles. His actions resulted in the effective suppression of enemy
firing points, which assisted in turning the fight in the favour of the
combined patrol. Moving to a new position, Corporal Keighran deliberately and
repeatedly again exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to assist in target identification
and the marking of the forward line of troops for fire support elements whilst
simultaneously engaging the enemy. Realising that the new position
provided a better location for the patrol’s joint fire controller, Corporal
Keighran moved over 100 metres across exposed parts of the ridgeline,
attracting a high volume of accurate enemy fire, to locate and move the fire
controller to the new position. He then rose from cover again to expose his
position on four successive occasions, each movement drawing more intense fire
than the last in order to assist in the identification of a further three enemy
firing points that were subsequently engaged by fire support elements. During one of these
occasions, when his patrol sustained an Australian casualty, Corporal Keighran
with complete disregard for his own safety, left his position of cover on the
ridgeline to deliberately draw fire away from the team treating the casualty.
Corporal Keighran remained exposed and under heavy fire while traversing the
ridgeline, in order to direct suppressing fire and then assist in the clearance
of the landing zone to enable evacuation of the casualty.

Corporal Keighran’s acts of the
most conspicuous gallantry to repeatedly expose himself to accurate and intense
enemy fire, thereby placing himself in grave danger, ultimately enabled the
identification and suppression of enemy firing positions by both Australian and
Afghan fire support elements. These deliberate acts of exceptional courage in
circumstances of great peril were instrumental in permitting the withdrawal of
the combined Australian and Afghan patrol with no further casualties. His
valour is in keeping with the finest traditions of the Australian Army and the
Australian Defence Force.[689]

Unit at the time of action: 6th Battalion
Royal Australian Regiment.[690]

Life after the war:

Corporal
Keighran transferred to the Active Reserve in 2011, at the same time commencing
a civilian career in the mining industry. He is currently posted to the
11th/28th Battalion, the Royal Western Australia Regiment (11/28 RWAR), a
Reserve infantry battalion of the Australian Army. He is married to Kathryn.[691]

John Alexander French

Third of five children of Albert
French, hairdresser, and his wife Lucy Fanny May, née Donaldson, both
native-born. Educated at Crows Nest State School and Toowoomba Technical
College, Jack entered his father’s barber-and-tobacconist business. On 22
October 1939 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and was posted to the
2nd/9th Battalion, then being formed at Redbank. Quiet, unassuming and of a
serious disposition, French was a ‘big fair chap’, a good sportsman and well
liked.[693]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Crows Nest, Queensland [electorate of
Maranoa].[694]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 4 September 1942—Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.[696]

At Milne Bay on the afternoon of
the 4th September, 1942, a company of an Australian Infantry Battalion attacked
the Japanese position East of the Buna Mission where it encountered terrific
rifle and machine-gun fire. The advance of the section of which Corporal French
was in command was held up by the fire from three enemy machine-gun posts,
whereupon Corporal French, ordering his section to take cover, advanced and
silenced one of the posts with grenades. He returned to his section for more
grenades and again advanced and silenced the second post. Armed with a Thompson
sub-machine gun, he then attacked the third post, firing from the hip as he
went forward. He was seen to be badly hit by the fire from this post, but he
continued to advance. The enemy gun then ceased to fire and his section pushed
on to find that all members of the three enemy gun crews had been killed and
that Corporal French had died in front of the third gun pit. By his cool
courage and disregard of his own personal safety, this non-commissioned officer
saved the members of his section from heavy casualties and was responsible for
the successful conclusion of the attack.[697]

Place
of burial or cremation: Port Moresby War Cemetery, Port Moresby, Papua New
Guinea.[700]

Edgar Thomas Towner

Born: 19
April 1890, near Blackall, Queensland [electorate of Maranoa].[701]

Life before
the war:

Son of Tasmanian-born Edgar Thomas
Towner, grazier, and his second wife Greta, née Herley, from Ireland. His
parents were among the first settlers on the Barcoo River. Edgar was educated
at home, at Blackall State School and at Rockhampton. In 1912 he took up his
own selection which he optimistically named Valparaiso; before developing it,
he enlisted on 4 January 1915 as a private in the Australian Imperial Force.[702]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Yelleroi, near Blackall, Queensland
[electorate of Maranoa].[703]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1 September 1918—Mont St Quentin, France.[705]

For most conspicuous bravery,
initiative and devotion to duty on 1st September, 1918, in the attack on Mont
St Quentin, near Peronne, when in charge of four Vickers guns. During the early
stages of the advance he located and captured single handed an enemy machine
gun which was causing casualties, and by turning it on the enemy inflicted
severe losses. Subsequently, by the skilful, tactical handling of his guns, he
cut off and captured twenty five of the enemy. Later, by fearless
reconnaissance under heavy fire, and by the energy, foresight, and promptitude
with which he brought fire to bear on various enemy groups, he gave valuable support
to the infantry advance. Again, when short of ammunition, he secured an enemy
machine gun, which he mounted and fired in full view of the enemy, causing the
enemy to retire further, and enabling our infantry to advance. Under intense
fire, although wounded, he maintained the fire of this gun at a very critical
period. During the following night he steadied and gave valuable support to a
small detached post, and by his coolness and cheerfulness inspirited the men in
a great degree. Throughout the night he kept close watch by personal reconnaissance
on the enemy movement, and was evacuated exhausted thirty hours after being
wounded. The valour and resourcefulness of Lt. Towner undoubtedly saved a very
critical situation, and contributed largely to the success of the attack.[706]

The hero returned to Australia in
April 1919, but was unable to raise sufficient funds to stock his property. He
gave up Valparaiso, went jackerooing and did itinerant work for three years
from 1922. Entering into a partnership in Kaloola station (near Longreach) in
1925, Towner thenceforward made the pastures and lands of central Queensland
the focus of his life and successfully built up Russleigh Pastoral Co., Isisford.
He took on the bush just as he had accepted the challenges of battle and stuck
it out through hard times, preserving his stock as best he could. Towner made
himself an expert on the frontier environments of western Queensland and
Central Australia, as well as on the exploits of Sir Thomas Mitchell who had
mapped and named parts of the country. By 1946 Towner had successfully lobbied
the Commonwealth government for a postage stamp to commemorate Mitchell. In
1955 he crowned his lifelong geographical work with an address to the Royal
Geographical Society of Australasia in Brisbane; his efforts were rewarded with
the James Park Thomson gold medal and a fellowship of the society; next year
his address was published as a booklet entitled Lake Eyre and its
Tributaries Edgar Towner was a big man with an imposing personality. In
military kit he was burly and tough-looking, but out of it he was shy and
distant, engrossed in thought. Without wife or children, he was deemed a loner.
A younger generation regarded him as eccentric: always to be seen wearing a
suit and frequently disappearing into the outback for long periods of study or
exploration.[708]

Place
of burial or cremation: Longreach Cemetery, Longreach, Queensland [electorate
of Maranoa].[710]

James Heather
(Hannah) Gordon

Born: 7
March 1909, Rockingham, Western Australia [electorate of Brand].[711]

Life before
the war:

Fifth of eight surviving children
of Australian-born parents William Beattie Gordon, member (1901-11) of the
Legislative Assembly and later farmer, and his wife Harriett Ann, née Scott.
(Sir) John Hannah Gordon was his uncle. Jim grew up on his parents’ properties
at Namban, near Moora, and (from 1917) at Gingin. Educated at local state
schools, he worked as a drover, rouseabout and farmer. He was employed on the
goldfields as a battery worker when World War II broke out. On 26 April 1940
Gordon understated his age and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force,
giving his middle name as Heather. He was 5 ft 9 ins (175 cm) tall and of
medium build, with brown eyes and dark hair. At St Edmund’s Church of England,
Wembley Park, Perth, on 14 June that year he married Myrtle Anzac Troy.[712]

Place of
residence at time of Enlistment: Yalgoo, Western Australia [electorate of
Durack].[713]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 10 July 1941—near Djezzine, Lebanon.[715]

On the night of 10th July 1941
during an attack on ‘Greenhill’, North of Djezzine, Private Gordon’s Company
came under intense machine-gun fire and its advance was held up. Movement even
by single individuals became impossible, one officer and two men being killed
and two men being wounded in the effort to advance. The enemy machine-gun
position which had brought the two forward platoons to a halt was fortified and
completely covered the area occupied by our forces. Private Gordon, on his own
initiative, crept forward over an area swept by machine-gun and grenade fire
and succeeded in approaching close to the post; he then charged it from the
front and killed the four machine-gunners with bayonet. His action completely
demoralised the enemy in this sector and the Company advanced and took the
position. During the remainder of the action that night and on the following
day, Private Gordon, who has throughout operations shown a high degree of
courage, fought with equal gallantry.[716]

Corporal Gordon arrived back in
Australia with his unit in March 1942. Having recovered from a bout of malaria,
he reached Papua late in November, by which time the 2/31st was fighting the
Japanese around Gona. In January 1943 he returned to Australia and was made
acting sergeant. He was confirmed in the rank en route to Port Moresby in July.
During the advance towards Lae, New Guinea, in September, he led a charge
against a machine-gun nest. It is likely that he was considered for a further
decoration, perhaps another VC, but no award was forthcoming. ‘Just as well,
too’, he later said. ‘Imagine what my cobbers would have called me then’. After
taking part in the subsequent operations in the Markham and Ramu valleys, he
came home to Australia in January 1944. He spent more time in hospital with
malaria and performed administrative duties before being discharged on 17
February 1947. His brothers Talbot and Ken also served in the AIF; Talbot was
killed at El Alamein, Egypt, in 1942.

Finding that a job with the State
Electricity Commission of Western Australia did not suit him, and missing army
life, Gordon joined the Australian Regular Army on 2 December 1947. Employed as
an instructor of cadets in Western Australia, he was promoted to temporary
warrant officer, class two, in October 1949 (confirmed 1 February 1950). He
retired from the army on 1 August 1968, then worked as a groundsman at Campbell
Barracks, Swanbourne, until 1975. A quiet, unassuming man, Gordon often hid his
VC ribbon in his pocket after ceremonial occasions. He enjoyed fishing and
gardening, liked cricket and avidly followed Australian Rules football.
Survived by his wife and their son, he died on 19 July 1986 at the Repatriation
General Hospital, Nedlands, and was cremated with full military honours. (Sir)
William Dargie’s portrait (1941) of Gordon, which won the 1942 Archibald prize,
is held by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.[718]

Died: 19
July 1986, Nedlands, Western Australia [electorate of Curtin].[719]

Place
of burial or cremation: Cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium, Karrakatta, Western
Australia [electorate of Curtin].[720]

Thomas Leslie ‘Jack’ Axford

Born: 18
June 1894, Carrieton, South Australia [electorate of Grey].[721]

Life before
the war:

Son of Walter Richard Axford, an
auctioneer from Tasmania, and his South Australian-born wife Margaret Ann, née
McQuillan. The family moved to Coolgardie, Western Australia, when he was 2.
Educated at the local state school, he worked as a labourer for the Boulder City
Brewery Co. Ltd.[722]
Previous military service: Served in the 84th Infantry, Citizen Military
Forces.[723]

Place of
residence at time of Enlistment: Coolgardie, Western Australia [electorate
O’Connor].[724]

Description
of Action for which VC awarded: 4 July 1918—Vaire and Hamel Woods, France.[726]

For most conspicuous bravery and
initiative during operations. When the barrage lifted and the Infantry advance
commenced, his platoon was able to reach the first enemy defences through gaps which
had been cut in the wire. The adjoining platoon being delayed in un-cut wire,
enemy machine guns got into action, and inflicted many casualties, including
the Company Commander. Lance-Corporal Axford, with great initiative and
magnificent courage, at once dashed to the flank, threw his bombs amongst the
machine-gun crews, jumped into the trench, and charged with his bayonet.
Unaided he killed ten of the enemy and took six prisoners: he threw the machine
guns over the parapet, and called out to the delayed platoon to come on. He
then rejoined his own platoon, and fought with it during the remainder of the
operations. Prior to the incidents above mentioned he had assisted in the
laying out of the tapes for the jumping off position, which was within 100 yards
of the enemy. When the tapes were laid he remained out as a special patrol to
ensure that the enemy did not discover any unusual movement on our side. His
initiative and gallantry undoubtedly saved many casualties, and most materially
assisted towards the complete success of his company in the task assigned to
it.[727]

In December 1918 Axford came home
to Australia on furlough. Discharged from the army on 6 February 1919, he
recommenced work as a labourer. At St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth, on 27 November
1926 he married Lily Maud Foster, a shop assistant. They lived at Mount
Hawthorn and had five children. Axford was employed by Hugh McKay (Massey
Harris) Pty Ltd and became a clerk. On 25 June 1941 he was mobilised in the
Militia and posted to the District Records Office, Perth. Rising to sergeant in
February 1943, he was discharged on 14 April 1947. In his leisure time ‘Jack’
regularly attended the races. Axford attended the VC centenary cel­ebrations in
London in 1956. He was returning from a reunion of the Victoria Cross and
George Cross Association when he died on 11 October 1983 on an aircraft between
Dubai and Hong Kong. His wife had died three months earlier. Survived by their
two sons and three daughters, he was cremated with full military honours. In
1985 his VC and other medals were presented to the Australian War Memorial,
Canberra.[729]

Martin O’Meara

Son of Michael O’Meara, labourer,
and his wife Margaret, née Connor. He arrived in Western Australia as a youth,
having worked his passage as a stoker. Giving his occupation as sleeper-hewer,
he joined the Australian Imperial Force in Perth on 19 August 1915.[733]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Collie, Western Australia [electorate of O’Connor].[734]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 9–12 August 1916—Pozières, France.[736]

For most conspicuous bravery.
During four days of very heavy fighting [Private O’Meara] repeatedly went out
and brought in wounded officers and men from ‘No Man’s Land’ under intense artillery
and machine gun fire. He also volunteered and carried up ammunition and bombs
through a heavy barrage to a portion of the trenches, which was being heavily
shelled at the time. He showed throughout an utter contempt of danger, and
undoubtedly saved many lives.[737]

In November 1918 he returned to
Australia and was discharged from the AIF in Perth in November 1919. His war
experiences caused a complete breakdown in his health for he spent the rest of
his life in military hospitals, suffering from chronic mania. He was too ill to
attend a special Armistice Day dinner in 1929 given by the governor of Western
Australia for the State’s VC winners. He died in Claremont Mental Hospital,
Perth, on 20 December 1935. His death certificate gave his occupation as
‘returned soldier’. He was buried with full military honours in Karrakatta
Catholic cemetery by Fr John Fahey. The mourners included three VC winners, C
Sadlier, J Woods and T Axford. Senator Sir George Pearce was a pallbearer. In
1917 O’Meara had revisited his native Ireland where money was raised as a
testimonial to him from Lorrha and neighbouring parishes; he left it to the
parish for restoring historic Lorrha Abbey. That task being beyond this sum, it
was instead applied to repairs of the existing parish church. In 1986 his VC
was donated to the West Australian Army Museum. Little is known about O’Meara
personally but one officer of the 16th described him at Mouquet Farm as ‘always
cheerful and optimistic’, willing ‘to volunteer for any job’. He was unmarried.[739]

Died: 20
December 1935, Claremont, Western Australia [electorate of Curtin].[740]

Place
of burial or cremation: Karrakatta Cemetery, Karrakatta, Western Australia [electorate
of Curtin].[741]

Leslie Thomas Starcevich

Born: 5
September 1918,Subiaco, Western Australia [electorate of Curtin].[742]

Life before
the war:

Starcevich was born on 5
September 1918 at Subiaco, Western Australia, third of ten children of
Croatian-born Joseph Starcevich, miner, and his English-born wife Gertrude May,
née Waters. In the 1920s the family moved to Grass Patch, near Esperance, where
Tom was educated at a local school. After working in a gold mine at Norseman he
enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 9 April 1941 and joined the 2/43rd
Australian Infantry Battalion.[743]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Norseman, Western Australia [electorate of
O’Connor].[744]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 28 June 1945—Beaufort, Borneo.[746]

Private L. Starcevich was a member
of 2/43rd Australian Infantry Battalion during the capture of Beaufort, North
Borneo. During the approach along a thickly wooded spur, the enemy was
encountered at a position where movement off the single track leading into the
enemy defences was difficult and hazardous. When the leading section came under
fire from two enemy machine-gun posts and suffered casualties, Private
Starcevich, who was a Bren gunner, moved forward and assaulted each post in
turn. He rushed each post firing his Bren gun from the hip, killed five enemy
and put the remaining occupants of the posts to flight. The advance progressed
until the section came under fire from two machine gun posts which halted the
section temporarily. Private Starcevich again advanced fearlessly, firing his
Bren gun from the hip and ignoring the hostile fire, captured both posts single
handed, disposing of seven enemy. These daring efforts enabled the Company to
increase the momentum of its attack and so relieve pressure on another Company
which was attacking from another direction. The outstanding gallantry of
Private Starcevich in carrying out these attacks single handed with complete
disregard of his own personal safety resulted in the decisive success of the
action.[747]

Returning to Australia in January
1946, Starcevich was discharged from the AIF on 12 February. He took
work as a car salesman in Perth. On 10 December 1947 at the district registrar’s office
he married Kathleen Betty Warr, née Hardy, a divorcee. The couple lived at Subiaco until 1951, when they moved
to a two-thousand acre (809-ha) war service property near Carnamah and farmed
wheat and sheep. Divorced in
1969, Starcevich returned to Grass Patch in 1981 and took up a
one-hundred acre (40.5-ha) farmlet, where he lived in a small shack. A modest and serious man with a liking for music, he
was described as 'a good mate, with a quiet smile and dry sense of humour', who
enjoyed sharing a few beers with old comrades. Survived by his two sons and one daughter he died on 17 November 1989 at
Esperance and was buried with full military honours in the local cemetery.[749] Died:
17 November 1989, Esperance, Western Australia [electorate of O’Connor].[750]

Place
of burial or cremation: Esperance Public Lawn Cemetery, Esperance, Western
Australia [electorate of O’Connor].[751]

Hugo Vivian Hope
Throssell

Born: 26
October 1884, Northam, Western Australia [electorate of Pearce].[752]

Life before
the war:

Youngest son of George Throssell,
storekeeper and later premier, and his wife Anne, née Morrell. One of fourteen
children, Hugo was educated at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, where he
captained the football team and became a champion athlete and boxer. He then
worked as a jackeroo on cattle stations in the north of the State. In 1912 he
and his brother, Frank Erick (Ric) Cottrell (b.1881), took up land at Cowcowing
in the Western Australian wheat-belt. Severe drought during the next two years
strengthened the bond between them; they were later described as ‘David and
Jonathan’ in their devotion to one another. Hugo was
tall, with a long face and strong features.[753]
Previous military service: Served for 6.6 years as Trooper, 18th Australian
Light Horse; four months as Sergeant, 10th Australian Light Horse.[754]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Northam, Western Australia [electorate of
Pearce].[755]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 29–30 August 1915, Gallipoli, Turkey.[757]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty during operations on the Kaiakij Aghala (Hill 60) in the
Gallipoli Peninsula, 29th and 30th August, 1915. Although severely wounded in
several places during a counter attack, [2nd Lieutenant Throssell]
refused to leave his post or to obtain medical assistance till all danger was
past, when he had his wounds dressed and returned to the firing line until
ordered out of action by the medical officer. By his personal courage and
example he kept up the spirits of his party, and was largely instrumental in
saving the situation at a critical period.[758]

Unit at time
of action: 10th Light Horse Regiment, 3rd Light Horse Brigade, New Zealand and
Australian Division, AIF.[759]

Life after
the war:

On 28 January 1919 in the Collins
Street registry office, Melbourne, Throssell married the Australian author
Katharine Susannah Prichard whom he had met in England. They settled on a
40-acre (16 ha) mixed farm at Greenmount, near Perth. His wife wrote that those
early years of marriage with Hugo, whom she called Jim, were her happiest. When
she became a foundation member of the Communist Party of Australia in 1920,
Hugo joined her as a speaker supporting unemployed and striking workers. He
claimed that the war had made him a socialist and a pacifist. The combination
of her award-winning novels and Communism, and his Victoria Cross, brought them
fame and notoriety. Hugo acted as soldiers’ representative on the Returned
Soldiers’ Land Settlement Board, became a real estate agent and worked
temporarily in the Department of Agriculture in Western Australia.

Hard times came in the Depression.
Katharine believed that her political activities lost Hugo his job with the
settlement board, and that his passion to own land led him to borrow recklessly
from the banks. He joined the search for gold at Larkinville in the early
1930s. When that proved unsuccessful, he devised a scheme which he hoped would
prove a money-spinner. While Katharine was on a six-month visit to Russia, he
organized a rodeo on his Greenmount property on a Sunday, not knowing that it
was illegal to charge entry fees on the sabbath. The only money Hugo raised
from the 2000 people who attended was a meagre silver collection for charity.
The episode plunged him further into debt and shattered his optimism. Imagining
that he could better provide for his wife and 11-year-old son if he left them a
war service pension, he shot himself on 19 November 1933 at Greenmount. Friends
blamed his melancholy on an attack of meningitis at Gallipoli and saw it as the
cause of his suicide. He was buried with full military honours in the Anglican
section of Karrakatta cemetery, Perth.[760]

Died: 19
November 1933, Greenmount, Western Australia [electorate of Hasluck].[761]

Place
of burial or cremation: Karrakatta Cemetery, Karrakatta [electorate of Curtin].[762]

James Park Woods

Born: 2
January 1891, Gawler, South Australia [electorate of Wakefield].[763]

Life before
the war:

Son of James Woods, blacksmith,
and his wife Ester, née Johnson. After his parents’ death James was reared by a
stepsister and, with his brothers, worked on a vineyard. Soon after war broke
out in 1914 Woods tried to enlist in Adelaide, but was rejected because of his
height (5 ft 4 ins, 163 cm). He travelled to Western Australia with his brother
Will, and carted timber and fenced in the Katanning area before becoming a
vigneron at Caversham. Following further unsuccessful attempts, James
eventually enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 29 September 1916 when
the height requirements had been lowered. He left Australia in December as a
reinforcement for the 48th Battalion.[764]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Caversham, Western Australia [electorate of
Hasluck].[765]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 18 September 1918—near Le Verguier, France.[767]

For conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty near Le Verguier, north-west of St. Quentin, on the 18th
September, 1918, when, with a weak patrol, [Private Woods] attacked and
captured a very formidable enemy post, and subsequently, with, two comrades,
held the same against heavy enemy counterattacks. Although exposed to heavy
fire of all descriptions, he fearlessly jumped on the parapet and opened fire
on the attacking enemy, inflicting severe casualties. He kept up his fire and
held up the enemy until help arrived, and throughout the operations displayed a
splendid example of valour, determination and initiative.[768]

Returning to Australia in August
1919, he took up a small vineyard and orchard in the Swan Valley. On 30 April
1921 at the Caversham Methodist Church, Perth, he married Olive Adeline Wilson.
Like many veterans of the AIF, Woods did not return home unscathed: he was
plagued with ill health as a result of gassing and chest infections in the
trenches. In 1937 he was granted a full pension and, although given only a few
years to live, enjoyed a quiet retirement for the next twenty-six years. A keen
cricketer when younger, Woods now took up fishing as a hobby. For a time he was
president of the Caversham sub-branch of the Returned Sailors’, Soldiers’ and
Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia. In 1956 he joined other Australian VC
winners in attending the VC centenary celebrations in London. His sons Gordon
and Norman served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II; Gordon
(the first-born) was killed in October 1943. Late in life Woods lived at
Claremont, Perth. Survived by his wife, three sons and three daughters, he died
on 18 January 1963 in Hollywood Repatriation Hospital and was buried in
Karrakatta cemetery.[770]

Died: 18
January 1963, Claremont, Western Australia [electorate of Curtin].[771]

Place
of burial or cremation: Karrakatta Cemetery, Karrakatta, Western Australia
[electorate of Curtin].[772]

Arthur Stanley
Gurney

Born: 15
December 1908, Day Dawn, Western Australia [electorate of Durack].[773]

Life before
the war:

Fourth of five children of George
Gurney, miner, and his wife Jane, née Roberts, both from South Australia.
Educated at the local state school and at Stott’s Business College, Perth, Stan
began work with a real-estate agent. From June 1927 he was employed as a clerk
and meter-fixer with the City of Perth Electricity and Gas Department. An enthusiastic
cyclist, he won a number of road-races and officiated at fixtures conducted by
the League of Western Australian Wheelmen.[774]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Victoria Park, Western Australia [electorate
of Swan].[775]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 22 July 1942—Tel El Eisa, Egypt.[777]

For gallantry and unselfish
bravery in silencing enemy machine guns by bayonet assault at Tel El Eisa, on
22nd July, 1942, thus allowing his Company to continue the advance. During an
attack on a strong German position in the early morning of 22nd July, 1942, the
Company to which Private Gurney belonged was held up by intense machine gun
fire from posts less than a hundred yards ahead, heavy casualties being
inflicted on our troops, all the officers being killed or wounded. Grasping the
seriousness of the situation and without hesitation, Private Gurney charged the
nearest enemy machine gun post, bayoneted three men and silenced the post. He
then continued on to the second post, bayoneted two men and sent out a third as
prisoner. At this stage a stick of grenades was thrown at Private Gurney which
knocked him to the ground. He rose again, picked up his rifle and charged a
third post using the bayonet with great vigour. He then disappeared from view
and later his body was found in an enemy post. By this single handed act of
gallantry in the face of determined enemy action, Private Gurney enabled his
company to press forward to its objective inflicting heavy losses upon the
enemy. The successful outcome of this engagement was almost entirely due to
Private Gurney’s heroism at the moment when it was needed.[778]

Ben Roberts-Smith

Roberts-Smith
graduated from Hale School in Perth in 1995, and enlisted in the Australian
Army in 1996.[782]
[Roberts-Smith] completed his training at the School of Infantry, Singleton,
New South Wales. In 1997, Corporal Roberts‑Smith was posted to the 3rd
Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) where he served as a Rifleman
in C Company, before advancing on to be a section commander in Direct Fire
Support Weapons platoon. During his tenure with 3RAR, Corporal Roberts‑Smith
deployed twice as part of the Rifle Company Butterworth Malaysia, and conducted
two operational tours of East Timor including INTERFET in 1999. In 2003,
Corporal Roberts-Smith completed the SASR selection course and was selected to
commence the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) reinforcement cycle. On
completion of the reinforcement cycle, he was posted to 3 Squadron, where he
served as a member of the Tactical Assault Group West and the Contingency
Squadron.

While with 3
Squadron, Corporal Roberts‑Smith was a member of a number of training and
assistance teams throughout South East Asia. He was deployed on operations to
Fiji in 2004, and has also deployed on Recovery Operations, as well as a number
of personnel security detachments in Iraq throughout 2005/2006. 2006 saw
Corporal Roberts‑Smith deployed as part of the Special Operations Task
Group (SOTG) in Afghanistan where he was subsequently awarded the Medal for
Gallantry. He was again deployed with the SOTG in Afghanistan in 2007, and on
his return was posted to Operational Support Squadron as a member of the Selection
Wing where he took part in the training of SASR Reinforcements. In 2009,
Corporal Roberts‑Smith was then posted to 2 Squadron where he deployed as
a patrol second in command to Afghanistan. Upon his return, Corporal Roberts‑Smith
completed the SASR Patrol Commanders Course, and in 2010 was again deployed
with the SOTG in Afghanistan.[783]

Description of action for which VC awarded: 11 June 2010—Kandahar
Province, Afghanistan.[785]

For the most
conspicuous gallantry in action in circumstances of extreme peril as Patrol
Second-in-Command, Special Operations Task Group on Operation SLIPPER. Corporal
Benjamin Roberts-Smith enlisted in the Australian Regular Army in 1996. After
completing the requisite courses, he was posted the 3rd Battalion, the Royal
Australian Regiment where he saw active service in East Timor. In January 2003,
he successfully completed the Australian Special Air Service Regiment Selection
Course. During his tenure with the Regiment, he deployed on Operation VALIANT,
SLATE, SLIPPER, CATALYST and SLIPPER II. Corporal Benjamin Roberts-Smith was
awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his actions in Afghanistan in 2006. On the
11th June 2010, a troop of the Special Operations Task Group conducted a
helicopter assault into Tizak, Kandahar Province, in order to capture or kill a
senior Taliban commander.

Immediately upon the
helicopter insertion, the troop was engaged by machine gun and rocket propelled
grenade fire from multiple, dominating positions. Two soldiers were wounded in
action and the troop was pinned down by fire from three machine guns in an
elevated fortified position to the south of the village. Under the cover of
close air support, suppressive small arms and machine gun fire, Corporal
Roberts-Smith and his patrol manoeuvred to within 70 metres of the enemy
position in order to neutralise the enemy machine gun positions and regain the
initiative. Upon commencement of the assault, the patrol drew very heavy,
intense, effective and sustained fire from the enemy position. Corporal
Roberts-Smith and his patrol members fought towards the enemy position until,
at a range of 40 metres, the weight of fire prevented further movement forward.
At this point, he identified the opportunity to exploit some cover provided by
a small structure.

As he approached the
structure, Corporal Roberts-Smith identified an insurgent grenadier in the
throes of engaging his patrol. Corporal Roberts-Smith instinctively engaged the
insurgent at point-blank range resulting in the death of the insurgent. With the
members of his patrol still pinned down by the three enemy machine gun
positions, he exposed his own position in order to draw fire away from his
patrol, which enabled them to bring fire to bear against the enemy. His actions
enabled his Patrol Commander to throw a grenade and silence one of the machine
guns. Seizing the advantage, and demonstrating extreme devotion to duty and the
most conspicuous gallantry, Corporal Roberts-Smith, with a total disregard for
his own safety, stormed the enemy position killing the two remaining machine
gunners.

His act of valour
enabled his patrol to break-in to the enemy position and to lift the weight of
fire from the remainder of the troop who had been pinned down by the machine
gun fire. On seizing the fortified gun position, Corporal Roberts-Smith then
took the initiative again and continued to assault enemy positions in depth
during which he and another patrol member engaged and killed further enemy. His
acts of selfless valour directly enabled his troop to go on and clear the
village of Tizak of Taliban. This decisive engagement subsequently caused the
remainder of the Taliban in Shah Wali Kot District to retreat from the area. Corporal
Roberts-Smith’s most conspicuous gallantry in a circumstance of extreme peril
was instrumental to the seizure of the initiative and the success of the troop
against a numerically superior enemy force. His valour was an inspiration to
the soldiers with whom he fought alongside and is in keeping with the finest
traditions of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force.[786]
A personal account of this action is contained in an interview Roberts-Smith
gave to Wartime Magazine in January 2012.[787]

Corporal Roberts-Smith transferred
to the Army Reserve on 4 November 2013 after 17 years of service with the
Australian Regular Army, including 10 years with the Special Air Service
Regiment.[789]

Percival Eric
Gratwick

Born: 19
October 1902, Katanning, Western Australia [electorate of O’Connor].[790]

Life before
the war:

Fifth son of native-born parents
Ernest Albert Gratwick, postmaster, and his wife Eva Mary, née Pether. After
Ernest died in 1911, the family battled to make ends meet. Percy attended state
schools at Katanning, Boulder and Perth, and left school at 16. He worked in
Perth, at one stage as a messenger at Parliament House, until about 1922 when
he went north to the Pilbara and learned droving and blacksmithing on Indee
station, 30 miles (48 km) south of Port Hedland. Then he moved to Yandeyarra
station, 30 miles (48 km) further south, as a stationhand. He gradually built
up a droving plant, got a team of mostly Aboriginal stockmen together, and took
contracts. Stopped by drought in 1931, he turned to prospecting while employed
part time on White Springs station, next to Yandeyarra. In the mid-1930s he
settled at nearby Wodgina, a tantalite mine, blacksmithing, prospecting and
occasionally working cattle for White Springs. He was his own man, well used to
looking after himself in that tough country. Early in World War II Gratwick
tried to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, but was rejected because his
nose had been broken years before. He paid a lot of money to have it fixed,
tried again, and was accepted on 20 December 1940.[791]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Perth, Western Australia [electorate of
Perth].[792]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 25–26 October 1942,El Alamein, Egypt.[794]

During the attack on Trig 29 at
Miteiriya Ridge on the night of October 25th–26th, the company to which Private
Gratwick belonged, met with severe opposition from a strong enemy position
which delayed the capture of the company’s objective, and caused a considerable
number of casualties. Private Gratwick’s platoon was directed at these strong
positions, but its advance was stopped by intense enemy fire at short range.
Withering fire of all kinds killed the platoon Commander, the Platoon Sergeant
and many other ranks, and reduced the total strength of the platoon to seven. Private
Gratwick grasped the seriousness of the situation, and, acting on his own
initiative, with utter disregard for his own safety, at a time when the
remainder of the platoon were pinned down, charged the nearest post and
completely destroyed the enemy with hand grenades, killing among others, a
complete mortar crew. As soon as this task was completed, and again under heavy
machine-gun fire, he charged the second post with rifle and bayonet. It was
from this post that the heaviest fire had been directed. He inflicted further
casualties, and was within striking distance of his objective when he was
killed by a burst of machine-gun fire. By his brave and determined action,
which completely unnerved the enemy, and by his successful reduction of the
enemy’s strength, Private Gratwick’s company was able to move forward and mop
up its objective. Private Gratwick’s unselfish courage, his gallant and
determined efforts against the heaviest of opposition, changed a doubtful
situation into the successful capture of his company’s final objective.[795]

Fredrick (or Frederick) Birks

Son
of Samuel Birks, groom, and his wife Mary, née
Williams. His father died in a coal-mining accident when he was 8. Educated at
the local St Matthew’s Anglican parish school he later worked as a labourer and
steel-rollerman in the near-by town of Shotton. In 1913 Birks migrated to
Australia and worked as a labourer in Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria.[800]Previous
military service: Served for two years in the Royal Artillery (Welsh), British
Army.[801]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Norwood, South Australia [electorate of
Adelaide].[802]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 20 September 1917—Glencorse Wood, Ypres,
Belgium.[804]

For most conspicuous bravery in
attack when accompanied by only a corporal, he rushed a strong point which was
holding up the advance. The corporal was wounded by a bomb, but 2nd Lt. Birks
went on by himself killed the remainder of the enemy occupying the position,
and captured a machine gun. Shortly afterwards he organised a small party and
attacked another strong point which was occupied by about twenty-five of the
enemy, of whom many were killed and an officer and fifteen men captured. During
the consolidation this officer did magnificent work in reorganising parties of
other units which had been disorganised during the operations. By his wonderful
coolness and personal bravery 2nd Lt. Birks kept his men in splendid spirits
throughout. He was killed at his post by a shell whilst endeavouring to
extricate some of his men who had been buried by a shell.[805]

Arthur Seaforth Blackburn

Youngest child of Rev. Thomas
Blackburn and his second wife Margaret Harriette Stewart, née Browne. He was
educated at Pulteney Grammar School, the Collegiate School of St Peter and the
University of Adelaide (LL.B., 1913). He had been articled to CB Hardy and was
admitted as a legal practitioner in 1913.[810]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Hyde Park, Adelaide [electorate of Adelaide].[811]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 23 July 1916—Pozières, France.[813]

For most conspicuous bravery. [2nd
Lieutenant Blackburn] was directed with fifty men to drive the enemy from a
strong point. By dogged determination he eventually captured their trench after
personally leading four separate parties of bombers against it, many of whom
became casualties. In face of fierce opposition he captured 250 yards of
trench. Then, after crawling forward with a Serjeant to reconnoitre, he
returned, attacked and seized another 120 yards of trench, establishing
communication with the battalion on his left.[814]

Invalided to Adelaide, on 22 March
1917 Blackburn married Rose Ada Kelly in his old college chapel, and was
shortly afterwards discharged on medical grounds. He returned to legal practice
and took an active part in the pro-conscription campaigns. In 1918–21 he was
Nationalist member for Sturt in the House of Assembly. His speeches usually
related to serving and returned soldiers; an exception was a resolution, passed
on his motion, in favour of a system of profit-sharing for employees in industry.
He continued his practice, but found parliamentary duties a heavy burden and
did not seek re-election in 1921. He was a founding member of the Returned
Sailors’, Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Imperial League in South Australia and
president of the State branch in 1917–21. In 1933–47 he was city coroner, in
which office he encountered and ignored criticism for refusing to offer public
explanation for any decision not to hold an inquest.

In 1939, having served as a
militia officer for fifteen years, Blackburn was promoted lieutenant-colonel
and took command of a motorized cavalry regiment. In 1940 he ceased legal
practice and was appointed to command the 2nd/3rd Australian Machine-Gun
Battalion, AIF, which fought under his command in Syria in 1941. Blackburn, as
the senior Allied officer present, accepted the surrender of Damascus on 21
June, and after the campaign was a member of the Allied Control Commission for
Syria. In February 1942 a small Australian force including his battalion was
hastily landed in Java; he was promoted temporary brigadier and appointed to
command ‘Black Force’, with orders to assist the Dutch against the rapid
Japanese advance. After three weeks vigorous but fruitless resistance, and in
spite of Blackburn’s reluctance, the Allied forces surrendered: he was a
prisoner until September 1945 when he was liberated in Mukden, Manchuria,
weakened but not broken in health. In 1946 he was appointed CBE (Military) for
distinguished service in Java.

In 1947–55 Blackburn served as a
conciliation commissioner in the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and
Arbitration. In 1955 he became a member of the Australian National Airlines
Commission and a company director. He had again been the State president of the
RSL in 1946–49, and was chairman of trustees of the Services Canteen Trust Fund
from 1947 to his death; for these and other community services he was appointed
CMG in 1955. Next year he attended the gathering of VC winners in London. He
died suddenly at Crafers of ruptured aneurism of the common iliac artery on 24
November 1960, survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters, and was buried
with full military honours in West Terrace cemetery.[816]

Died: 24
November 1960, Crafers, South Australia [electorate of Mayo].[817]

Place of
burial or cremation: West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia
[electorate of Adelaide].[818]

Phillip Davey

Born: 10
October 1896, Unley, South Australia [electorate of Adelaide].[819]

Life before
the war:

Son of William George Davey,
carpenter, and his wife Elizabeth, née O’Neill. Educated at Flinders Street
Model School and Goodwood Public School, he worked as a horse-driver at the
time of his enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force at Morphettville on 22
December 1914.[820]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Exeter, South Australia [electorate of Port
Adelaide].[821]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 28 June 1918—Merris, France.[823]

For most conspicuous bravery and
initiative in attack. In a daylight operation against the enemy position, his
platoon advanced 200 yards, capturing part of the enemy line, and whilst the
platoon was consolidating the enemy pushed a machine gun forward under cover of
a hedge and opened fire from close range, inflicting heavy casualties and
hampering work. Alone Corporal Davey moved forward in the face of a fierce
point blank fire, and attacked the gun with hand grenades, putting half the
crew out of action. Having used all available grenades, he returned to the
original jumping off trench, secured a further supply and again attacked the
gun, the crew of which had in the meantime been reinforced. He killed the crew,
eight in all, and captured the gun. This very valiant NCO then mounted the gun
in the new post and used it in repelling a determined counter attack, during
which he was severely wounded. By his determination, Corporal Davey saved the
platoon from annihilation, and made it possible to consolidate and hold a
position of vital importance to the success of the whole operation.[824]

After the war Davey had three
separate periods of employment as a labourer and linesman with the South
Australian Railways: from 27 April 1926 to 4 October 1938; from 6 March 1939 to
12 February 1942; and from 17 December 1943 to 22 February 1946. He married
Eugene Agnes Tomlinson on 25 August 1928, they had no children. He suffered
from bronchitis and emphysema for years before his death from a coronary
occlusion at the Repatriation General Hospital, Springbank, on 21 December
1953.[826]

Place of
burial or cremation: West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia
[electorate of Adelaide].[828]

Thomas Currie
Derrick

Born: 20
March 1914, Medindie, South Australia [electorate of Adelaide].[829]

Life before
the war:

Eldest son of David Derrick, a
labourer from Ireland, and his native-born wife Ada, née Whitcombe. The
Derricks were battlers. Tom walked, often barefooted, to two primary schools in
succession—Sturt Street Public School in the city and Le Fevre Peninsula
School, Port Adelaide. He left school as soon as he could, aged 14. By then he
was a bit of a larrikin around the Port, venturesome and quick-witted, keen on
boxing, Australian Rules football, cricket and gambling. During the Depression
his cheeriness found him odd jobs, fixing bikes, selling newspapers and working
for a local baker. Early in 1931 he and some mates rode their bikes about 140
miles (225 km) to Berri, on the Murray River, chasing work. ‘Diver’, as he was
now nicknamed, did long spells in the local ‘susso’ camp, once living on grapes
for a week, but in late 1931 talked his way into work on a vineyard at Winkie.
He stayed nine years. In the presbytery of St Laurence’s Catholic Church, North
Adelaide, on 24 June 1939 Derrick married Clarance Violet (‘Beryl’) Leslie. As
with CJ Dennis’s Ginger Mick, whom in peace and war Derrick so much resembled,
marriage gave his life a more serious purpose. He did not volunteer for the
Australian Imperial Force until 26 June 1940 and enlisted on 5 July.
Although never overtly religious, he became a convert to Catholicism (his
wife’s religion) in early 1945. When Tom was at the war, Beryl walked almost
every day to the post office, hoping for news of him.[830]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: North Adelaide, South Australia [electorate of
Adelaide].[831]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: November 1943—Satelberg, New Guinea.[833]

For most conspicuous courage,
outstanding leadership and devotion to duty during the final assault on
Satelberg in November, 1943. On 24th November, 1943, a company of an Australian
Infantry Battalion was ordered to outflank a strong enemy position sited on a
precipitous cliff-face and then to attack a feature 150 yards from the township
of Satelberg. Sergeant Derrick was in command of his platoon of the company.
Due to the nature of the country, the only possible approach to the town lay
through an open kunai patch situated directly beneath the top of the cliffs.
Over a period of two hours many attempts were made by our troops to clamber up
the slopes to their objective, but on each occasion the enemy prevented success
with intense machine-gun fire and grenades. Shortly before last light it
appeared that it would be impossible to reach the objective or even to hold the
ground already occupied and the company was ordered to retire. On receipt of
this order, Sergeant Derrick, displaying dogged tenacity, requested one last
attempt to reach the objective. His request was granted. Moving ahead of his
forward section he personally destroyed, with grenades, an enemy post which had
been holding up this section. He then ordered his second section around on the
right flank. This section came under heavy fire from light machine-guns and
grenades from six enemy posts. Without regard for personal safety he clambered
forward well ahead of the leading men of the section and hurled grenade after
grenade, so completely demoralising the enemy that they fled leaving weapons
and grenades. By this action alone the company was able to gain its first
foothold on the precipitous ground.

Not content with the work already
done, he returned to the first section, and together with the third section of
his platoon advanced to deal with the three remaining posts in the area. On
four separate occasions he dashed forward and threw grenades at a range of six
to eight yards until these positions were finally silenced. In all, Sergeant
Derrick had reduced ten enemy posts. From the vital ground he had captured the
remainder of the Battalion moved on to capture Satelberg the following morning.
Undoubtedly Sergeant Derrick’s fine leadership and refusal to admit defeat, in
the face of a seemingly impossible situation, resulted in the capture of
Satelberg. His outstanding gallantry, thoroughness and devotion to duty were an
inspiration not only to his platoon and company but to the whole Battalion.[834]

Joergen (or Jorgan) Christian Jensen

Son of Joergen Christian Jensen,
farmer and wool merchant, and Christiane, known as Jensen. Nothing is known of
his childhood. He migrated to Australia alone in March 1909, having spent the
previous year in England. After disembarking in Melbourne he worked as a
labourer at Morgan, South Australia, and at Port Pirie, and was naturalized on
7 September 1914 in Adelaide.[839]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Port Pirie, South Australia [electorate of
Grey].[840]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 2 April 1917—Noreuil, France.[842]

For most conspicuous bravery and
initiative when, with five comrades, he attacked a barricade behind which were
about 45 of the enemy and a machine gun. One of his party shot the gunner, and
Pte. Jensen, single-handed, rushed the post and threw in a bomb. He had still a
bomb in one hand, but taking another from his pocket with the other hand he
drew the pin with his teeth, and by threatening the enemy with two bombs and by
telling them that they were surrounded, he induced them to surrender. Pte.
Jensen then sent one of his prisoners to order a neighbouring enemy party to
surrender, which they did. This latter party were then fired on in ignorance of
their surrender by another party of our troops; whereupon Pte. Jensen, utterly
regardless of personal danger, stood on the barricade, waved his helmet, caused
firing to cease, and sent his prisoners back to our lines. Pte. Jensen’s
conduct throughout was marked by extraordinary bravery and determination.[843]

Jensen was discharged from the AIF in Adelaide on 12 December
1918 with the rank of corporal. After demobilization he worked as a marine
store dealer. He married Katy Herman, née Arthur, at the Adelaide Registry
Office on 13 July 1921. Jensen died of war-related injuries in Adelaide
Hospital on 31 May 1922. His wife later remarried.[845]

Place of
burial or cremation: West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia
[electorate of Adelaide].[847]

Arthur Percy Sullivan

Born: 27
November 1896, Prospect, South Australia [electorate of Adelaide].[848]

Life before
the war:

Son of Arthur Monks Sullivan,
storekeeper, and his wife Eliza, née Dobbs. Educated at Crystal Brook Public
School and Gladstone High School, he joined the National Bank of Australasia at
Gladstone in 1913 and was transferred to Broken Hill, New South Wales, and then
to Maitland, South Australia.[849]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Crystal Brook, South Australia [electorate of
Grey].[850]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 10 August 1919—Sheika River, Russia.[852]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty on the 10th August, 1919, at the Sheika River, North Russia. The
platoon to which he belonged, after fighting a rearguard covering action, had
to cross the river by means of a narrow plank, and during the passage an
officer and three men fell into a deep swamp. Without hesitation, under intense
fire, Corporal Sullivan jumped into the river and rescued all four, bringing
them out safely. But for this gallant action his comrades would have,
undoubtedly, been drowned. It was a splendid example of heroism, as all ranks
were on the point of exhaustion, and the enemy less than 100 yards distant.[853]

Unit at time
of action: 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, Sadlier-Jackson’s Brigade.[854]

Life after
the war:

Sullivan left for Australia on 1
November [1919] without waiting to be decorated by the King. He was presented
with the VC in Adelaide in April 1920 during the tour of the Prince of Wales
who smiled and said to Sullivan: ‘Aren’t you the man who ran away from father?’
Known as the ‘Shy VC’, Sullivan was a popular personality. At Fairfield,
Melbourne, he married Dorothy Frances Veale with Anglican rites on 5 December
1928; they were to have three children, including twins. After the war Sullivan
had rejoined the National Bank and in 1929 moved to its Sydney office; in July
1934 he was appointed manager of the Casino branch. He joined the Australian
contingent to the coronation of King George VI and took with him the ashes of
British VC winner Sergeant Arthur Evans who had died in Australia. On 9 April
1937, eleven days after handing over these remains, Sullivan died when he
accidentally slipped and struck his head against a kerb in Birdcage Walk near
Wellington Barracks, London. After a military funeral, his ashes were returned
to Australia and placed in the Northern Suburbs crematorium, Sydney. In 1939 a
memorial plaque was erected on the gates of Wellington Barracks. His wife died
in 1980, leaving his VC to the Australian War Memorial where it is displayed in
the Hall of Valour.[855]

William Henry Kibby

Second of three children of John
Robert Kibby, draper’s assistant, and his wife Mary Isabella, née Birnie. Early
in 1914 the family migrated to Adelaide where Bill attended Mitcham Public
School. He had various jobs before he was employed to design and fix plaster
decorations at the Perfection Fibrous Plaster Works, Edwardstown. In 1926 he
married Mabel Sarah Bidmead Morgan, a 19-year-old typist, in her father’s house
at Glenelg; they lived at Helmsdale and had two daughters. Short—5 ft 6 ins
(168 cm)—and strong, Kibby loved outdoor activity. He was assistant-scoutmaster
of the 2nd Glenelg Sea Scouts and sailed in their lifeboat; he took his family
on walks and picnics; and he played golf on public courses. In 1936 he joined
the 48th Field Battery, Royal Australian Artillery (Militia). He liked taking
part in military tattoos. His considerable artistic talent found expression not
only in his plaster designs but in watercolours and drawings. He took art
classes briefly at the School of Mines and Industries, and painted and sketched
at home while the family listened to the radio.[859]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Glenelg North, South Australia [electorate of
Hindmarsh].[860]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 23–31 October 1943—El Alemein, Egypt.[862]

During the initial attack at
Miteiriya Ridge on Oct. 23rd, 1942, the Commander of No. 17 Platoon, to which
Sergeant Kibby belonged was killed. No sooner had Sergeant Kibby assumed
command than his platoon was ordered to attack a strong enemy position holding
up the advance of his company. Sergeant Kibby immediately realised the
necessity for quick decisive action, and without thought for his personal
safety, he dashed forward towards the enemy post, firing his Tommy-gun. This
rapid and courageous individual action, resulted in the complete silencing of
the enemy fire by the killing of three of the enemy, and the capture of twelve
others. With these posts silenced, his company was then able to continue the
advance.

After the capture of Trig 29 on
October 26th intense enemy artillery concentrations were directed on the
Battalion areas which were invariably followed with counter attacks by tanks
and infantry. Throughout the attacks that culminated in the capture of Trig 29
and the reorganisation period which followed, Sergeant Kibby moved from section
to section, personally directing their fire and cheering the men, despite the
fact that the platoon, throughout was suffering heavy casualties. Several times
when under intense machine-gun fire, he went out and mended the platoon’s lines
of communication, thus allowing mortar concentration to be directed effectively
against the attack on his company’s front. His whole demeanour during this
difficult phase in the operations, was an inspiration to his platoon.

On the night of October 30th-31st,
when the battalion attacked ‘Ring Contour’ 25 behind the enemy lines, it was
necessary for No. 17 Platoon to move through most withering enemy machine-gun
fire in order to reach its objective. These conditions did not deter Sergeant
Kibby from pressing forward right to the objective despite his platoon being
mowed down by machine-gun fire from point blank range. One pocket of resistance
still remained and Sergeant Kibby went forward alone, throwing grenades to
destroy the enemy now only a few yards distant. Just as success appeared
certain, he was killed by a burst of machine-gun fire. Such outstanding
courageous, tenacity of purpose and devotion to duty was entirely responsible
for the successful capture of the company’s objective. His work was an
inspiration to all, and he left behind him an example and memory of a soldier
who fearlessly and unselfishly fought to the end to carry out his duty.[863]

Lawrence Carthage Weathers

Son of John Joseph Weathers,
labourer, and his wife Ellen Frances, née McCormack, both Adelaide born. Aged
7, he sailed with his parents to Adelaide; the family settled in rural South
Australia and Lawrence was sent to Snowtown Public School. By 1913 he had
become an undertaker and may have sensed—if he did not understand—where paths
of glory lead. On 10 September he married a 23-year-old, Melbourne-born
domestic servant, Annie Elizabeth Watson, at her father’s home in the Adelaide
suburb of Unley; the young couple lived nearby at Parkside and were to have two
children.[868]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Parkside, South Australia [electorate of Adelaide].[869]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 2 September 1918—north of Peronne, France.[871]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty on the 2nd September, 1918, north of Peronne, when with an
advanced bombing party. The attack having been held up by a strongly held enemy
trench, Corporal Weathers went forward alone, under heavy fire, and attacked
the enemy with bombs. Then, returning to our lines for a further supply of
bombs, he again went forward with three comrades, and attacked under very heavy
fire. Regardless of personal danger, he mounted the enemy parapet and bombed
the trench, and, with the support of his comrades, captured 180 prisoners and
three machine guns. His valour and determination resulted in the successful
capture of the final objective, and saved the lives of many of his comrades.[872]

Alfred Edward Gaby

Seventh son of Alfred Gaby,
farmer, and his wife Adelaide, née Whiteway. Little is known of his early years
other than that he was educated at Scottsdale and worked on the family farm
after leaving school. He then spent some time in southern Tasmania. While
working on his father’s farm he had joined the militia and served for three
years with the 12th Infantry Battalion (Launceston Regiment). Two elder
brothers had seen active service in the South African War. Before the outbreak
of World War I Gaby followed one of his brothers to Western Australia where he
worked as a labourer at Katanning.[877]
Previous military service: Served for 3 years in the 12th Infantry, Citizen
Military Forces. Previously twice rejected for AIF enlistment.[878]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Katanning, Western Australia [electorate of
O’Connor].[879]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 8 August 1918—Villers-Bretonneux, France.[881]

For most conspicuous bravery and
dash in attack, when on reaching a wire in front of an enemy trench, strong
opposition was encountered. The advance was at once checked, the enemy being in
force about 40 yards beyond the wire, and commanding the gap with machine guns
and rifles. Lt. Gaby found another gap in the wire, and, single handed,
approached the strong point while machine guns and rifles were still being
fired from it. Running along the parapet, still alone, and at point blank
range, he emptied his revolver into the garrison, drove the crews from their
guns, and compelled the surrender of 50 of the enemy with four machine guns. He
then quickly reorganised his men, and led them on to his final objective, which
he captured and consolidated. Three days later, during an attack, this officer
again led his company with great dash to the objective. The enemy brought heavy
rifle and machine gun fire to bear upon the line, but in the face of this heavy
fire Lt. Gaby walked along his line of posts, encouraging his men to quickly
consolidate. While engaged on this duty he was killed by an enemy sniper.[882]

Charles Pope

Son of William Pope, a constable
in the Metropolitan Police, and his wife Jane, née Clark. He was educated at
Navestock, Essex, and after migrating to Canada was employed by the Canadian
Pacific Railways. In 1906 he returned to London, joined the Metropolitan Police
Force, Chelsea division, and on 13 December, at St Luke’s Anglican Church,
Chelsea, married Edith Mary Smith; they had a son and a daughter. Pope resigned
from the police in 1910 and migrated to Australia where he was employed as a
furniture salesman with Blain & Co., Beaufort Street, Perth. He then worked
on the staff of the Temperance & General Insurance Co., Perth. Before
leaving England he had married, and his wife Edith Mary and their son and
daughter had accompanied him to Australia.[887]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Perth, Western Australia [electorate of
Perth].[888]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 15 April 1917—Louverval, France.[890]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty when in command of a very important picquet post in the sector
held by his battalion, his orders being to hold this post at all costs. After
the picquet post had been heavily attacked, the enemy, in greatly superior
numbers, surrounded the post. Lt. Pope, finding that he was running short of
ammunition, sent back for further supplies. But the situation culminated before
it could arrive, and in the hope of saving the position, this very gallant
officer was seen to charge with his picquet into a superior force, by which it
was overpowered. By his sacrifice Lt. Pope not only inflicted heavy loss on the
enemy, but obeyed his order to hold the position to the last. His body,
together with those of most of his men, was found in close proximity to eight
enemy dead—a sure proof of the gallant resistance which had been made.[891]

Stanley Robert
McDougall

Son of John Henry McDougall,
sawmiller, and his wife Susannah, née Cate. Educated locally, he took up
blacksmithing and served his time at this trade. He was an excellent horseman,
an expert marksman, a competent bushman and an amateur boxer.[896]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Recherche, Tasmania [electorate of Franklin].[897]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 28 March 1918—Dernancourt, France.[899]

For most conspicuous bravery and
devotion to duty when the enemy attacked our line, and his first wave succeeded
in gaining an entrance. Sjt. McDougall, who was at a post in a flank company,
realised the situation, and at once charged the enemy’s second wave single
handed with rifle and bayonet killing seven and capturing a machine gun which
they had. This he turned on to them, firing from the hip, causing many
casualties and routing the wave. He then turned his attention to those who had
entered, until his ammunition ran out, all the time firing at close quarters,
when he seized a bayonet and charged again, killing three men and one enemy
officer, who was just about to kill one of our officers. He used a Lewis gun on
the enemy, killing many, and enabling us to capture 33 prisoners. The prompt
action of this non-commissioned officer saved the line and enabled the enemy’s
advance to be stopped.[900]

At Windsor Castle on 19 August he
was invested with the Victoria Cross by King George V and shortly afterwards
returned to Australia where he was discharged from the AIF on 15 December 1918.
McDougall entered the Tasmanian Forestry Department and in the early 1930s became
an inspector in charge of forests in the north-western part of the State. He
several times performed outstanding organizational and rescue work during
bushfires. He was living at Scottsdale before visiting London for the VC
centenary in 1956. McDougall died on 7 July 1968 at Scottsdale, survived by his
wife Martha, née Anderson-Harrison, whom he had married in 1926; they had no
issue.[902]

Cameron Stewart Baird

Cameron
was born in Burnie Tasmania on 7 June 1981. He moved back to Victoria in late
1984 with his parents and brother. It was while Cameron lived in Victoria that
he conducted his primary and secondary education, completing his VCE. It was
also during this period, he combined with his schooling, his sporting career
that included anything with a bat, ball and athletics. He joined the Army in
January 2000 and upon completion of his initial employment training was posted
to the then 4th Battalion (Commando), The Royal Australian Regiment, now the
2nd Commando Regiment, in February 2000.[906]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 22 June 2013—Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.[908]

For the most conspicuous acts of
valour, extreme devotion to duty and ultimate self-sacrifice at Ghawchak
village, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan as a Commando Team Commander in Special
Operations Task Group on Operation SLIPPER. Corporal Cameron Baird enlisted in
the Australian Regular Army in 2000, was discharged in 2004, and re-enlisted in
2006. In both periods of service, he was assigned to the 4th Battalion, Royal
Australian Regiment (Commando). His operational service includes Operations
TANAGER, FALCONER, BASTILLE and five tours on Operation SLIPPER. He was awarded
the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan in 2007-08.

On 22 June 2013, a Commando
Platoon of the Special Operations Task Group, with partners from the Afghan
National Security Forces, conducted a helicopter assault into Ghawchak village,
Uruzgan Province, in order to attack an insurgent network deep within
enemy-held territory. Shortly after insertion, Corporal Baird’s team was
engaged by small arms fire from several enemy positions. Corporal Baird quickly
seized the initiative, leading his team to neutralise the positions, killing
six enemy combatants and enabling the assault to continue. Soon afterwards, an
adjacent Special Operations Task Group team came under heavy enemy fire,
resulting in its commander being seriously wounded. Without hesitation,
Corporal Baird led his team to provide support. En route, he and his team were
engaged by rifle and machine gun fire from prepared enemy positions. With
complete disregard for his own safety, Corporal Baird charged towards the enemy
positions, supported by his team. On nearing the positions, he and his team
were engaged by additional enemy on their flank. Instinctively, Corporal Baird
neutralised the new threat with grenades and rifle fire, enabling his team to
close with the prepared position. With the prepared position now isolated,
Corporal Baird manoeuvred and was engaged by enemy machine gun fire, the
bullets striking the ground around him. Displaying great valour, he drew the
fire, moved to cover, and suppressed the enemy machine gun position. This
action enabled his team to close on the entrance to the prepared position, thus
regaining the initiative.

On three separate occasions
Corporal Baird charged an enemy-held building within the prepared compound. On
the first occasion he charged the door to the building, followed by another
team member. Despite being totally exposed and immediately engaged by enemy
fire, Corporal Baird pushed forward while firing into the building. Now in the
closest proximity to the enemy, he was forced to withdraw when his rifle ceased
to function. On rectifying his rifle stoppage, and reallocating remaining
ammunition within his team, Corporal Baird again advanced towards the door of
the building, once more under heavy fire. He engaged the enemy through the door
but was unable to suppress the position and took cover to reload. For a third
time, Corporal Baird selflessly drew enemy fire away from his team and
assaulted the doorway. Enemy fire was seen to strike the ground and compound
walls around Corporal Baird, before visibility was obscured by dust and smoke. In
this third attempt, the enemy was neutralised and the advantage was regained,
but Corporal Baird was killed in the effort.

Corporal Baird’s acts of valour
and self-sacrifice regained the initiative and preserved the lives of his team
members. His actions were of the highest order and in keeping with the finest
traditions of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force.[909]

John Hutton Bisdee

Born on 28 September 1869 at
Hutton Park, Melton Mowbray, Tasmania, eighth child of John Bisdee,
pastoralist, and his wife Ellen Jane, née Butler. His grandfather, John Bisdee,
had arrived in the colony in 1821. He was educated at The Hutchins School,
Hobart, and then worked on his father’s property until April 1900 when he
enlisted for service in the South African War as a trooper in the 1st Tasmanian
Imperial Bushmen Contingent.[913]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Melton Mowbray, Tasmania [electorate of
Lyons].[914]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1 September 1900—Transvaal, South Africa.[916]

On the 1st
September, 1900, Private Bisdee was one of an advanced scouting party passing
through a rocky defile near Warm Bad, Transvaal. The enemy, who were in
ambuscade, opened a sudden fire at close range, and six out of the party of
eight were hit, including two Officers. The horse of one of the wounded
Officers broke away and bolted. Private Bisdee gave the Officer his stirrup
leather to help him out of action, but finding that the Officer was too badly
wounded to go on, Private Bisdee dismounted, placed him on his horse, mounted
behind him, and conveyed him out of range. This act was performed under a very
hot fire, and in a very exposed place.[917]

After his return to Tasmania
Bisdee resumed farming at Hutton Park. On 11 April 1904, at St John’s Anglican
Church, Hobart, he married Georgiana Theodosia, daughter of Bishop M. B. Hale.
Two years later he joined the 12th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Tasmanian
Mounted Infantry, as a temporary lieutenant and was promoted lieutenant in 1908
and captain in 1910; in that year he attended a course of instruction in India.
In August 1913 he became commanding officer of his regiment, now the 26th Light
Horse. Bisdee joined the Australian Imperial Force as a captain in the 12th
Light Horse on 26 July 1915. Accompanied by his wife, who was to do valuable
work in the AIF canteens, he sailed for Egypt in November. He served in
operations against the Senussi at Mersa Matruh until a leg wound precluded him
from active service; he was seconded as assistant provost marshal, first to AIF
Headquarters, Egypt, in March 1916, then two months later to the Anzac Mounted
Division. Bisdee was promoted major in September, returned to regimental duty
in December and served with the Light Horse throughout 1917. In January 1918 he
became assistant provost marshal (Egypt section) of the Anzac Provost Corps; in
June he was confirmed as lieutenant-colonel. He was mentioned in dispatches and
appointed OBE in June 1919.

Bisdee was discharged from the AIF
in May 1920. A major in the Australian Military Forces from 1915, he was placed
on the reserve in 1921 and on the retired list, with the honorary rank of
lieutenant-colonel, in 1929. He had continued to farm at Ashburton,
Bridgewater, in Tasmania, the property he had acquired in 1915. While
travelling in France in 1926 his wife died. He returned to Tasmania and lived
at Tranquility, Melton Mowbray, where he died of chronic nephritis on 14
January 1930; he and his sister (who died next day) were buried in St James’s
churchyard, Jericho, in the same grave. The Bisdee Memorial Cadet Efficiency
Prize, awarded annually at St Virgil’s College, Hobart, is named after him.[919]

Walter Ernest Brown

Son of Sidney Francis Brown,
miller, and his wife Agnes Mary, née Carney. He was brought up at New Norfolk
and on leaving school worked as a grocer in Hobart until 1911 and at Petersham,
New South Wales, until World War I.[923]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Hobart, Tasmania [electorate of Denison].[924]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 6 July 1918—Villers-Bretonneux, France.[926]

For most conspicuous bravery and
determination when with an advanced party from his battalion which was going
into the line in relief. The company to which he was attached carried out
during the night a minor operation resulting in the capture of a small system
of enemy trench. Early on the following morning an enemy strong post about
seventy yards distant caused the occupants of the newly captured trench great
inconvenience by persistent sniping. Hearing that it had been decided to rush
this post, Corporal Brown, on his own initiative, crept out along the shallow
trench and made a dash towards the post. An enemy machine gun opened fire from
another trench and forced him to take cover. Later he again dashed forward and
reached his objective. With a Mills grenade in his hand he stood at the door of
a dug-out and called on the occupants to surrender. One of the enemy rushed
out, a scuffle ensued, and Corporal Brown knocked him down with his fist. Loud
cries of ‘Kamerad’ were then heard, and from the dug-out an officer and eleven
other ranks appeared. This party Corporal Brown brought back as prisoners to
our line, the enemy meanwhile from other positions bringing heavy machine-gun
fire to bear on the party.[927]

Brown was discharged from the AIF
in February 1920. In 1920–30 he worked in Sydney as a brass-finisher and in
1931–40 at Leeton as a water-bailiff with the New South Wales Water
Conservation and Irrigation Commission. He married Maude Dillon, an Irishwoman,
in Christ Church, Bexley, on 4 June 1932. In June 1940,
by giving his age as 40 instead of 54, Brown enlisted in the 2nd AIF. His real
age and record were soon discovered, and he was promoted lance sergeant and
posted to the 2/15th Field Regiment, but he reverted to gunner at his own
request. The regiment, part of the ill-fated 8th Division, reached Malaya in
August 1941. Brown was last seen on 14 February 1942, the night before the
Allied surrender at Singapore. Picking up some grenades he said to his comrades,
‘No surrender for me’, and walked towards the enemy lines. He was presumed to
have died while trying to escape on 28 February. He was survived by his wife, a
son and a daughter. Brown was regarded by those who served with him as ‘a born
soldier, quiet, friendly and loyal beyond measure’.[929]

John James (Jack) (later the Hon) Dwyer

Son of Charles Dwyer, farmer, and
his wife Mary, née Scanlon. Jack was educated at Mills Reef State School until
the age of 12. From 1910 he cut cane and timber in Queensland before returning
to Tasmania in 1913 to work on the Lake Margaret Hydro-electric Power Scheme.[934]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: South Bruny, Tasmania [electorate of
Franklin].[935]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 26 September 1917—Zonnebeke, Belgium.[937]

For most conspicuous bravery when
in attack. Sjt. Dwyer, in charge of a Vickers machine gun, went forward with the
first wave of the brigade. On reaching the final objective, this
non-commissioned officer rushed his gun forward in advance of the captured
position in order to obtain a commanding spot. Whilst advancing, he noticed an
enemy machine gun firing on our troops on our right flank, and causing
casualties. Unhesitatingly, he rushed his gun forward to within 30 yards of the
enemy gun, and fired point blank at it, putting it out of action, and killing
the gun crew. He then seized the gun and, totally ignoring the snipers from the
rear of the enemy position carried it back across the shell swept ground to our
front line, and established both it and his Vickers gun on the right flank of
our brigade. Sjt. Dwyer commanded these guns with great coolness, and, when the
enemy counter attacked our positions, he rendered great assistance in repulsing
them. On the following day, when the position was heavily shelled, this
non-commissioned officer took up successive positions. On one occasion, his
Vickers gun was blown up by shell fire, but he conducted his gun team back to
Headquarters through the enemy barrage, secured one of the reserve guns, and
rushed it back to our position in the shortest possible time. During the whole
of this attack, his contempt of danger, cheerfulness, and courage, raised the
spirits of all who were in his sector of the line.[938]

Under the soldier-settlement
scheme, Dwyer established an orchard on Bruny Island. On 24 September 1919 at
St Brendan’s Catholic Church, Alonnah, he married Myrtle Mary Dillon. The
irregularity of income from his farm led him to join J. J. Dillon & Sons,
his father-in-law’s sawmilling enterprise near Alonnah. Dwyer served as a Bruny
Island councillor (from 1924) until he moved to New Norfolk in 1928. He set up
his own sawmill at Moogara. Encouraged by Dillon to enter parliament, in May
1931 Dwyer was elected to the House of Assembly as a Labor member for Franklin.
He was to retain the seat until his death. As Speaker (1942–48) of the House,
he was renowned for his fairness and his insistence on ‘a fair go for all’,
particularly new members. He was appointed minister for agriculture on 29 June
1948 in (Sir) Robert Cosgrove’s cabinet. Following an electoral redistribution,
in 1949 Dwyer sold his sawmill and moved to Glenorchy within the redrawn
boundaries of Franklin. From 26 August 1958 to 12 May 1959 he served as
deputy-premier. Respected as a competent minister, he developed a network among
rural interests, especially in the Huon and Derwent valleys, but was forced by
illness to resign his portfolio on 19 September 1961.

Dwyer was a ‘grassroots’
politician who believed in maintaining personal contact with his constituents:
he was returned to parliament in ten successive elections. Jovial and kindly,
he enjoyed a beer with his friends, but, perhaps because of his impoverished
upbringing, he had a stern sense of propriety and a strong work ethic. He
seldom discussed his war experiences. Eric Reece recalled that, when asked
about his exploits in Belgium in 1917, Jack modestly replied that he ‘was drunk
at the time’. Keenly interested in community and social life, Dwyer was a
justice of the peace (from 1924), a member of the New Norfolk licensing court
and the fire brigade board, and an official visitor to Lachlan Park Mental
Hospital. He belonged to the New Norfolk Golf Club, and the Buckingham and
Claremont bowling clubs. In 1961 Dwyer spent time in hospital with dermatitis,
which his family attributed to exposure to mustard gas during World War I.
Survived by his wife, son and five daughters, he died on 17 January 1962 on
Bruny Island; he was accorded a state funeral with military honours and buried
in Cornelian Bay cemetery.[940]

Guy George Egerton Wylly

Born on 17 February 1880 in
Hobart, son of Edward Arthur Egerton Wylly, an Indian Army officer, and his
wife Henrietta Mary, née Clerk. As an infant Guy went to India with his
parents. In 1885 the family settled at Sandy Bay, Hobart, where he attended The
Hutchins School before completing his education at the Collegiate School of St
Peter, Adelaide.[944]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Sandy Bay, Tasmania [electorate of Denison].[945]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 1 September 1900—Transvaal, South Africa.[947]

On the 1st September, 1900, near
Warm Bad, Lieutenant Wylly was with the advanced scouts of a foraging party.
They were passing through a narrow gorge, very rocky and thickly wooded, when
the enemy in force suddenly opened fire at short range from hidden cover,
wounding six out of the party of eight, including Lieutenant Wylly. That
Officer, seeing that one of his men was badly wounded in the leg, and that his
horse was shot, went back to the man’s assistance, made him take his
(Lieutenant Wylly’s) horse, and opened fire from behind a rock to cover the
retreat of the others, at the imminent risk of being cut off himself. Colonel
TE Hickman, DSO, considers that the gallant conduct of Lieutenant Wylly saved
Corporal Brown from being killed or captured, and that his subsequent action in
firing to cover the retreat was ‘instrumental in saving others of his men from
death or capture.’[948]

Transferring to the British Army
on 5 December 1900, Wylly was gazetted second lieutenant in the South
Lancashire Regiment and joined its 2nd Battalion in India. On 1 October 1902 he
obtained a transfer to the Indian Army, serving in the 46th Punjabis (1902–04)
and the Queen’s Own Corps of Guides (QOCG), infantry (1904–06); he then joined
the cavalry in the QOCG. From January 1906 to September 1909 he was
aide-de-camp to Lord Kitchener, the commander-in-chief, East Indies. Having
qualified at the Staff College, Quetta, on 14 December 1914 Wylly was posted as
staff captain in the Mhow Cavalry Brigade, serving with the British
Expeditionary Force in France. Wounded in action in August 1915, he returned to
his unit as brigade major following his promotion on 1 September. In June 1916
he was posted briefly to the staff of the British 4th Division and next month
joined the staff of the 3rd Australian Division which was forming in England.
From 24 February to 26 July 1917 he was on the staff of I Anzac Corps, his
final appointment before returning to India. For his service in France and Belgium
he was thrice mentioned in dispatches and was awarded the Distinguished Service
Order in January 1918. Between 1919 and 1933 Wylly took part in several
operations on the North-West Frontier, earning four further mentions in
dispatches. A lieutenant-colonel from 26 April 1926, he was given command of
the 6th Duke of Connaught’s Own Lancers. Promotion to colonel followed in April
1930. He was also an aide-de-camp to King George V in 1926-33. Appointed CB in
1933, he retired to Camberley, Surrey, England, where he died, unmarried, on 9
January 1962 and was cremated.[950]

Lewis McGee

Son of John McGee, labourer and
later farmer, and his wife Mary, née Green. McGee left for posterity virtually
no record of his pre-war days. He married Eileen Rose Bailey at Avoca on 15
November 1914. When he enlisted in the 40th Battalion, Australian Imperial
Force, on 1 March 1916 he was living at Avoca and was employed by the Tasmanian
Department of Railways as an engine driver.[954]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Avoca, Tasmania [electorate of Lyons].[955]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 4 October 1917—East of Ypres, Belgium.[957]

For most conspicuous bravery when,
in the advance to the final objective, Sjt. McGee led his platoon with great
dash and bravery, though strongly opposed, and under heavy shell fire. His
platoon was suffering severely, and the advance of the company was stopped by
machine gun fire from a ‘pill box’ post. Single handed, Sjt. McGee rushed the
post armed only with a revolver. He shot some of the crew, and captured the
rest, and thus enabled the advance to proceed. He reorganised the remnants of
his platoon and was foremost in the remainder of the advance; and during
consolidation of the position, he did splendid work. This non-commissioned officer’s
coolness and bravery were conspicuous, and contributed largely to the success
of the Company’s operations. Sjt. McGee was subsequently killed in action.[958]

Percy Clyde Statton

Son of Edward Statton, miner, and
his wife Maggie Lavinia, née Hoskins. Educated at Zeehan State School, he
became a farm labourer at Tyenna. On 12 September 1907, giving his age as 21,
he married with Methodist forms Elsie May Pearce; they were to have two
daughters and a son.[963]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Tyenna, Tasmania [electorate of Lyons].[964]

Description
of action for which VC awarded: 12 August 1918—Proyart, France.[966]

For most conspicuous bravery and
initiative in action when in command of a platoon which reached its objective,
the remainder of the battalion being held up by heavy machine gun fire. He
skilfully engaged two machine gun posts with Lewis gun fire, enabling the
remainder of his battalion to advance. The advance of the battalion on his left
had been brought to a stand still by heavy enemy machine gun fire, and the
first of our assaulting detachments to reach the machine gun posts were put out
of action in taking the first gun. Armed only with a revolver, in broad
daylight, Sjt. Statton at once rushed four enemy machine gun posts in
succession, disposing of two of them, and killing five of the enemy. The
remaining two posts retired and were wiped out by Lewis gun fire. Later in the
evening, under heavy machine gun fire, he went out again and brought in two
badly wounded men. Sjt. Statton set a magnificent example of quick decision,
and the success of the attacking troops was largely due to his determined
gallantry.[967]

On 26 November 1919 Statton
received a hero’s reception in Hobart. He was less certain, however, of a
welcome from his wife who had warned the ‘strapping, handsome soldier’ that if
he went off to war she would leave him when he returned. She kept her word and
he divorced her on 1 October 1920. After demobilization, Statton found work in
a sawmill and then became a farmer at Fitzgerald. On 21 December 1925 at the
Registrar General’s Office, Hobart, he married a divorcee Eliza Grace Hudson,
née Parker (d.1945); on 16 December 1947 in Hobart he married with Baptist
forms Monica Enid Effie Kingston, a teacher. They lived at Ouse where Statton
worked as a commercial agent. In the 1950s he was employed by Australian
Newsprint Mills.[969]

Australian Capital Territory electorates

Appendix 1

Claud Charles Castleton

Due to a
lack of available information, the Parliamentary Library has been unable to connect
Castleton with any specific electorate in Australia. However, key biographical
details are identified below.

Son of Thomas Charles Castleton,
bricklayer, and his wife Edith Lucy, née Payne. He was educated at Lowestoft
municipal secondary school and worked as a pupil-teacher in the local council
school before migrating to Australia at the age of 19. He reached Melbourne in
the autumn of 1912, then travelled through the eastern States and on to New
Guinea. According to his father, his interest in nature and geography led to
his migration and his journeys after arrival. When World War I broke out
Castleton was in Port Moresby and, on offering his services to the Papuan
administration, worked with native troops preparing for coastal defence; he
also helped to man the Moresby wireless station.[973] It has also been recorded
that Castleton spent some time in Burnie, Tasmania where he worked for the
Marine Board.[974]

Place of
residence at time of enlistment: Port Moresby, New Guinea.[975]

Description of
action for which VC awarded: 28–29 July 1916—Pozières, France.[977]

For most conspicuous bravery.
During an attack on the enemy’s trenches the infantry was temporarily driven
back by the intense machine gun fire opened by the enemy. Many wounded were
left in ‘No Man’s Land’ lying in shell holes. Sjt. Castleton went out twice in
face of this intense fire, and each time brought in a wounded man on his back. He
went out a third time, and was bringing in another wounded man, when he himself
was hit in the back, and killed instantly. He set a splendid example of courage
and self-sacrifice.[978]

Place of
burial or cremation: Pozières British Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boisselle, France.[981]

Appendix 2

Lionel Wigmore’s reference work of VC recipients, They
Dared Mightily, noted 19 VC recipients who either were born or died in
Australia, but served in non-Australian military units. These recipients were:

[711]. M Arthur, Symbol of courage, op. cit., p.
644. The World War II Nominal Roll lists his date of birth as 7 March 1908; See
Department of Veterans’ Affairs, ‘Gordon,
James Heather’, World War II Nominal Roll, 2002, accessed 19
February 2010. The Australian dictionary of biography lists his date of
birth as 7 March 1907; J Horner, ‘Gordon, James
Hannah (Jim) (1907–1986)’, Australian dictionary of biography,
online edition, 2006, accessed 19 February 2010.

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